I argue that the system of meritocratic inheritance of technology coupled with economies of scale is a possible reason for income inequality, and I provide a philosophical justification for a universal basic income in the current system. Introduction The political discourse about income inequality and universal basic income (UBI) has revolved around the idea of
I argue that we progressively use more tangible and intangible resources from the government to acquire your income, and therefore, one ought to pay taxes at a higher and higher rate if they make more and more money. If you google “justification for progressive taxation”, you will see plenty of arguments in favour of and against
Should there be a provision to reject all candidates during an election? I will explain why I support such a provision in the ballot using a logical puzzle and introducing the concept of common knowledge. In India, a new option, None of the Above (NOTA) [link], has been introduced in the ballot in ongoing general
In which I describe how my idea of fairness is different from free market principles. In this post, I talk about the definition of fairness in the context of economic transaction. Many of you may have simple framework based on free market principles to judge a transaction as fair or unfair. I have a different
Where I relate wars, capital punishment, environmentalism and feminism. It was rather unpleasant to watch Gov. Rick Perry being applauded for overseeing capital punishments in Texas during the Republican presidential debate last year. Even a supporter of capital punishment usually agrees that it is not carried out with pride but with a disappointment that such
This is a response to Swaminomic’s post, where he talks about economic inequality in Indian states (link). I will briefly present his views first and then present some flaws in his argument by providing some facts. He suggests that India should not be worrying about economic inequality as much as worrying about the overall growth because
I came across a blog post (link, and also a column: link) that talks about the effects of futures market on the oil and onion market. Many think that futures market is responsible for the oil price fluctuation (link). The author notes that despite the absence of futures market in the onion markets (due to
Is it right to question the integrity of people of a country based on what their democratically-elected government does? My opinion, based on the current global context, is that it is not correct. In this post, I will explain why. This is mainly in response to Great Bong’s post (link), in which he holds the
My brother and I visited Tunisia two weeks before their revolution. Though poverty and economic inequality were quite evident, public utilities were plenty. My brother remarked that the facilities and infrastructure in Tunisia are surprisingly good despite being ruled a dictator. I responded saying, “It’s about keeping people just happy enough.” Although there were small
Some claim that the expiration of Bush Tax Cuts, only for the rich, is class warfare, and that it punishes the rich for working hard. The argument implicitly assumes that regardless of who you are, being smart and working hard helps you grow richer. I decided to put that claim to test because we have