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Talent, Slavery and Envy in Dworkin's Equality of Resources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2004

MIRIAM COHEN CHRISTOFIDIS
Affiliation:
University College London

Abstract

In this article I argue against Ronald Dworkin's rejection of the labour auction in his ‘Equality of Resources’. I criticize Dworkin's claims that the talented would envy the untalented in such an auction, and that the talented in particular would be enslaved by it. I identify some ways in which the talent auction is underdescribed and I compare the results for the condition of the talented of different further descriptions of it. I conclude that Dworkin's deviation from the ‘envy test’ criterion results in an inequality between the talented and the untalented which cannot be justified in egalitarian terms.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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