Free Market Fairness Free Market Fairness John Tomasi Princeton University Press Princeton and oxFord copyright © 2012 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William street, Princeton, new Jersey 08540 in the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 oxford street, Woodstock, oxfordshire ox20 1tW press.princeton.edu all rights reserved Fifth printing, and first paperback printing, 2013 Paperback isBn 978-0-691-15814-3 the Library of congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows tomasi, John, 1961– Free market fairness / John tomasi. p. cm. includes bibliographical references and index. isBn 978-0-691-14446-7 (hbk.) 1. Liberalism. 2. equality. 3. Liberty. 4. capitalism. 5. Free enterprise. i. title. Jc574.t657 2012 330.12'2—dc23 2011037125 British Library cataloging- in- Publication data is available this book has been composed in Palatino Lt std Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United states of america 5 7 9 10 8 6 Capitalismus sine stercore tauri. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Chapter 1 Classical Liberalism 1 Property and equality 1 Market society 6 america 11 Hayek 16 classical Liberalism 22 Chapter 2 High Liberalism 27 Property or equality 27 the decline of economic Liberty 32 rawls 37 the Libertarian Moment 46 Liberalismus sapiens sapiens 51 Chapter 3 Thinking the Unthinkable 57 the Great Fact: economic Growth 57 Populism, Probability, and Political Philosophy 60 economic Liberty and democratic Legitimacy 68 endings, and Beginnings, too 84 Chapter 4 Market Democracy 87 the conceptual space 87 Breaking ice 99 Market democracy as a research Program 103 institutions 106 the challenges to Market democracy 118 viii  •  Contents Chapter 5 Social Justicitis 123 the distributional adequacy condition 123 Hit Parade: Property and the Poor 127 Hayek’s critique 142 Benadryl for Free-M arketeers 151 Chapter 6 Two Concepts of Fairness 162 Warming up to Market democracy 162 applying the theory 172 the argument ipse dixit 177 Justice as Fairness: status or agency? 180 Chapter 7 Feasibility, Normativity, and Institutional Guarantees 197 the twilight of Left Liberalism? 197 realistic Utopianism 203 aims and Guarantees 215 Chapter 8 Free Market Fairness 226 the difference Principle 226 Fair equality of opportunity 237 Political Liberty 247 Generational, environmental, and international Justice 254 Free Market Fairness as a Moral ideal 264 Conclusion 267 Notes 273 Bibliography 315 Index 333 Acknowledgments Many colleagues, students, and friends helped me write this book, including: sahar akhtar, Larry alexander, richard arneson, Bas van der Bassan, anthony Bedami, Zack Beauchamp, Barbara Buckinx, steve calabresi, yvonne chiu, tom christiano, Mark cladis, ross corbett, dina egge, Michael Frazer, Bill Galston, Jerry Gaus, scott Gerber, alex Gourevitch, charles Griswold, Leigh Jenco, Kate Johnson, Laura Joyce, Mark Koyama, chandran Kukathas, Mark LeBar, Hugh Lazenby, Helene Landemore, Brink Lindsey, Loren Lomasky, roderick Long, Minh Ly, Matthew Lyddon, John Mccormick, david Mcilroy, eric Mack, Jim Morone, emily nacol, Jan narveson, Michael novak, carlos ormachea, carmen Pavel, Philip Pettit, John Phillips, Jeppe von Platz, dennis rasmussen, danny shapiro, Paul starr, annie stilz, Jason swadley, adam tebble, George thomas, scott turcotte, chad van schoelandt, debra satz, doug den Uyl, Keven vallier, andrew volmert, steve Wall, Greg Weiner, dan Wewers, Will Wilkinson, and Matt Zwolinkski. among the many who sent written comments, several merit separate thanks: samuel Freeman, david schmidtz, steve Macedo, richard arneson, Jacob Levy, tom spragens, danny shapiro, and two anonymous reviewers for the Press. i have special debts to Free- man and schmidtz. From different political perspectives, sam and dave encouraged this project from the start. that has long seemed significant to me. Brown University is a special place to think and write about politi- cal philosophy. i thank my colleagues david estlund, sharon Krause, corey Brettschneider, and charles Larmore for their suggestions and friendship. the postdoctoral fellows in Brown’s Political the- ory Project have been a source of energy and ideas. Keith Hankins and Jason swadley, Phd candidates at the University of arizona and Brown respectively, were diligent and creative research assistants. Jason Brennan has been my neighbor in the Political theory Project throughout the years i wrote this book. i understand the state of our discipline far better because of my daily conversations with Jay. More than colleagues, Jay and i have been intellectual coconspirators: clas- sical liberals who see the need for change. i thank him.