Living Wage and Optimal Inequality in a Sarkarian Framework

Bibliographic Data

ID9255632
AuthorsMaurice S Friedman (0000-0002-0955-8022, Colorado State University, corresponding author), Mark Friedman (a Colorado State University , USA)
Year2008
Volume66
Issue1
Pages93-111
Publication date2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Social Economy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-6764 • E-ISSN: 1470-1162
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00346760701668479
OpenAlexW2133152733
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

Principles from the social thought of the Indian philosopher P.R. Sarkar are employed to show that there exists an optimal level of economic inequality that joins the values of economic justice and efficiency. Sarkar favored establishing a living wage as well as a maximum wage that allows for work incentives. It is argued that the primary justification for inequality is to provide incentives for individual productivity, and that the value of those incentives should not exceed the economic contributions they produce. To determine the relative importance of income incentives in motivating individual economic contributions, it is found necessary to develop a multifaceted model of human productivity. Such a model is developed using concepts from humanistic psychology. A Sarkarian individual productivity curve is introduced in diagrammatic analysis to demonstrate the existence of an optimal level of inequality, and also to explain the persistence of extreme income inequality

Economic inequality · Economics · Efficiency wage · Incentive · Inequality · Labour economics · Macroeconomics · Microeconomics · Productivity · Value (mathematics) · Wage · Work (physics) · Economic Growth and Productivity · Economic theories and models · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Mathematics

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