Assignment task:
In depth respond to the below post. Include two apa sources and one bible verse. Make 2 questions for each response to help them develop their research more
Rising income inequality is a socio-political problem in need of justice. Thomas Sowell in his book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice, argues that cosmic justice is a completely different concept than traditional justice. Cosmic justice seeks to decree away all basis for inequality thus arriving at equality in outcomes. Traditional justice is about fairness in the process, not the outcome. (Sowell, 2002, p. 9). Considering this, I posit that in market economies and assuming individual liberties are guaranteed, that there should tend to be an acceptable level of income inequality consistent with preferences and luck, akin to the concept of a regression to the mean. However, higher than acceptable levels of income inequality occur and reflect an extraneous influence on the distribution of endowments across generations. This influence comes through bequests. So, my research question in seeking a fair process, that is traditional as opposed to cosmic justice, to mitigate income inequality asks, "How would an estate tax system with an overlapping authority federalist structure and targeted redistribution mitigate income inequality in the United States?"
What I have learned and what questions have followed from my overview of this topic of interest include the following. First, that income inequality in the U.S. is both pervasive and increasing. Second, that it is associated with, if not resulting from, declining social mobility: "children of affluent households are more likely to remain as affluent relative to children of those in the bottom of the income distribution, who are also very likely to remain there; large disparities in mobility relevant school readiness skills emerge before kindergarten; and education does not appear to significantly reduce those early gaps." (Russel Sage Foundation, 2016). Third, that redistributive policies have not been successful in mitigating this problem. Fourth, that given the contentious nature of income inequality and policies that are typically used to redress it, successful policy needs to take a conciliatory approach. It is in consideration of this that I think making clear the concepts involved is crucial, and as a follow up, that the policy design utilize institutions that have historically performed well as conciliatory mechanisms. I have learned that income inequality is a concept for which there are conflicting views on whether it is a problem, and if so, if it is one that requires public policy intervention or not. This is related to the various ways in which income inequality could result. So, it is important to be clear in my research how it is conceived of and how to address other conceptualizations of it. Similarly, I have learned that the concept often invoked to addressing it, social justice, has varied definitions, and it is important to address these various dimensions, as my research considers as one of several arguments, social justice, as supporting my research question. Finally, I have learned that fiscal federalism has been demonstrated as potentially useful mitigating income inequality when it is interacted with a variable capturing political fragmentation (Feld et al. 2023), suggesting that federalism works best when it is addressing a problem that is mired in conflicting preferences. This thus gives rise to my research question, which considers pre-distributive, as opposed to redistributive, policy in the form of estate taxation, and with a federalist structure associated with its design, as a possible means of mitigating income inequality.