Equality and Government Policy: What Is the Proper Scope of Equality?

Abstract

I take an in-depth look into the contours of a discussion of equality. Specifically, the focus is to what extent a proper conception of equality should shape government policy. To do this, I advocate a largely Rawlsian concept of justice and argue that a prioritarian/instrumental egalitarian stance should be accepted. From here, I examine how a government's domestic and foreign policy should take such matters into consideration. Some of these issues include time preference, Nozick's entitlement theory, and human rights.