Introduction
Our country aspires to be a society that enjoys a full and equal opportunity for everyone. And our economy is not balanced, with significant barriers hampering many people's ability to provide a decent living for their families. At the same time, political changes affect many people's basic living standards.
What is Economic Justice?
Economic justice is part and parcel of social justice. It is a set of moral principles to construct economic institutions, the ultimate aim of which is to give an opportunity for each person to have a sufficient material base on which to have a dignified and successful life.
Economic justice is a sub-category of welfare economics, with models often representing the ethical-social requirements of a given theory. It can be either 'in the broad' as of 'just social order' or 'in the small' as of 'how institutions distribute particular benefits and burdens'.
Understanding Economic Justice
The concept of economic justice crosses with the idea of economic prosperity at large. There is a belief that creating more opportunities to earn viable salaries for all members of society will contribute to sustained economic growth.
When more people are in a position to provide for themselves and maintain stable discretionary income, they will mostly spend their money on commodities, which in turn drives demand in the economy. Economic justice can include resolving pay disparities and other earnings deficits.
For example, there may be workers employed in jobs who do not use their skills to the full. This typically leads employees to earn wages that do not reflect the full potential of their skills. As a result, they aren't getting the highest income they should make. Such a loss of possible wages creates economic inefficiency because those workers won't have the income to participate in it to the fullest.
If this inefficiency reaches a substantial magnitude, it can slow the economy. It implies that large sections of the population do not buy goods and services that they might otherwise have to spend on during this time.
Another attempt to achieve economic justice is a program of progressive taxation, in which the level of tax increases as the sum of base income rises. Progressive taxation is aimed at remedying income inequality and providing funding for social services, public infrastructure, and education.
