Inheritance of Wealth: Justice, Equality, and the Right to Bequeath

248 Pages·2018·1.202 MB·English

by  Daniel Halliday

The Inheritance of Wealth
NEW TOPICS IN APPLIED PHILOSOPHY
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The Inheritance
of Wealth
Justice, Equality, and the Right
to Bequeath
Daniel Halliday
1
3
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For my parents, David and Patricia

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
1. Introduction 1
1.1 UnderminingJusticeGradually 1
1.2 TheMainArgumentsinBrief 4
1.3 InheritedWealthandInequalityToday:
SomeCommentsontheEmpiricalEvidence 8
1.4 OutlineoftheBook 16
1.5 FurtherRemarksontheStudyofInheritancewithin
ContemporaryPoliticalPhilosophy 17
1.6 InheritanceandtheMoralFoundationsofCapitalism 21
2. InheritanceinEarlyLiberalWritings 26
2.1 AntifeudalismintheOriginsofLiberalism 26
2.2 LockeonPropertyversusPoliticalAuthority 29
2.3 AdamSmithonEntailsand“theProgresstoOpulence” 32
2.4 PaineonLandandCompensatoryTaxation 38
2.5 GodwinonAristocracy,Segregation,andWell-being 43
2.6 MillontheLimitedRighttoBequeath 47
2.7 SomeGeneralizations 52
3. TheUtilitarianCaseagainstIteratedBequests 54
3.1 MillonTaxationandIncentives 54
3.2 Rignano’sProposalandItsContext 58
3.3 ProgressivityOverTime 61
3.4 SomeProblems 66
3.5 ProspectsforRecoveringtheRignanoScheme 71
4. InheritanceandLuck 74
4.1 TheIntuitiveIdea 74
4.2 NaïveLuckEgalitarianism:SomeProblems 77
4.3 PluralismandPersonalPrerogatives 80
4.4 TheInstitutionalApproach 86
4.5 ReciprocityandIdleness 90
4.6 HypotheticalInsurance 95
5. InequalityandEconomicSegregation 101
5.1 SegregationandEquality 101
5.2 ContemporarySocialEgalitarianism:ABriefSketch 104
5.3 SegregationandNonfinancialCapital 107
viii CONTENTS
5.4 SegregationandLuck:SomeTheoreticalAdvantages 110
5.5 EconomicSegregationandUnjustConsequences 113
5.6 TheRobustnessofEconomicSegregation:
TaxationversusAlternativeTypesofInstitutionalReform 117
6. InheritanceandtheIntergenerationalReplicationofInequality 122
6.1 SomeDoubts 122
6.2 ParentalConferralofAdvantage 128
6.3 TheProblemofRegulatingtheFamily 135
6.4 TheCumulativeEffectsofInheritance(1):
EffectsonDifferentialParentalConferralofAdvantage 138
6.5 Compounding 145
6.6 TheCumulativeEffectsofInheritance(2):
EffectsasanAttractorofNonfinancialCapital 148
6.7 TheEgalitarianComplaintaboutInheritedWealth:ASummary 152
7. Libertarianisms 155
7.1 PreliminaryRemarksontheLibertarianTradition 155
7.2 IndistinctivenessArguments 162
7.3 Virtue,Cruelty,andFamilyFarms 166
7.4 LeftLibertarianismandAbolition 171
7.5 PerpetualSavings 176
8. Taxation 184
8.1 OnthePhilosophicalEvaluationofTaxSchemes 184
8.2 AvoidancethroughGifts:TheProblemofSelecting
theRightTaxBase 188
8.3 TheRignanoSchemeasanAnti-AvoidanceDevice 194
8.4 CharitableBequests 197
8.5 WhyNotaWealthTax? 201
8.6 Hypothecation 204
8.7 ThePoliticsofInheritedWealth 208
Bibliography 211
NameIndex 229
GeneralIndex 232
Acknowledgements
Ifirst tried to think seriously about inherited wealth some time around
2007, while I was a PhD student in Stanford University’s Philosophy
Department. I wrote a scruffy paper on inheritance and distributive
justice, which I sent to my advisers, Joshua Cohen and Debra Satz.
They took the trouble to read through it and helped me appreciate its
shortcomingswhileadvisingmethatthemeritsofthetopicmadeitstill
worthpursuing.Forbetterorworse,Iwroteadissertationonadifferent
theme. Having moved on from graduate school, I have come back
foranothergoatworkingoutwhattosayaboutinheritance.Thisbook
istheresult.
Ihaveaccruedmanydebtsduringthetwoyearsorsothatithastaken
to write this book. Much early momentum was gained from a series of
conversationswithElizabethAndersoninMichiganinNovember2014.
I’dliketothankLizforhervaluableguidanceandencouragementwhen
Iwasstilltryingtogetthisprojectofftheground.Inearly2015,Guido
Erreygers allowed me to examine his Rignano archive in Antwerp.
Around the same time, discussion with Jens Beckert provided another
valuable source of early inspiration. Peter Momtchiloff at Oxford Uni-
versityPresstookaninterestintheprojectfromthestartandremained
patientthroughoutitsslowdevelopment.
Igotthefirstfulldraftcompletedduringasemester’ssabbaticalleave
in 2015, most of which was spent at Warwick University’s Centre for
Ethics, Law, and Public Affairs. This was probably the best intellectual
communityIcouldhavefoundinwhichtoworkonthisproject.Thanks
especially to Matthew Clayton, John Cunliffe, Clare Heyward, Hwa
Young Kim, Andy Mason, Helen McCabe, Tom Parr, Mark Philp,
Adam Swift, and Victor Tadros, all of whom helped a great deal by
reading draft chapters and/or offering their thoughts in many useful
conversations.
I spent the rest of 2015 and much of 2016 on getting the draft up to
a higher standard. We were lucky to have Samuel Fleischacker visit
Melbourne in August 2015, and I’d like to thank him for taking the
trouble to read a draft of chapter 2 and providing valuable feedback.