Using the terms “just” and “unjust” to describe economic outcomes/wealth inequality

FA Hayek argued, in my view persuasively, that it makes no sense to characterize market economies and income distribution as just or unjust. For example, we commonly see Keynesian and left wing economists claim wealth distribution is unjust.

Here is why Hayek rejected the usage of those terms:

quote:

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F.A. Hayek famously argued that the market's distribution of income and wealth is neither just nor unjust. Because a free market is an unplanned, spontaneous order—driven by millions of individual choices—no person or central planner is responsible for the outcome, making the concepts of "fairness" or "justice" meaningless when applied to it

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quote:

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Hayek argued that the moral labels "just" or "unjust" can only apply to deliberate human actions. Since no one intentionally designs the overall wealth distribution in a market, it cannot be called unjust, regardless of how unequal it may be.

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In the context of Elon Musk, his trillion dollar net worth is entirely due to millions of individual stock traders bidding on shares that he happens to own. It’s an impersonal, unguided, spontaneous activity of economic individuals engaging in transactions with others. It makes no sense to claim this activity is just or unjust.


If you found a Stradivarius violin in a building you bought, would your subsequent $10 million dollar net worth be unjust? It is the result of individuals bidding for the violin you found. The same logic applies to stocks, bonds, companies, and billionaires