ABSTRACT
Citizens may try to calculate the magnitude of the expected stream of income they expect to receive in a pure system of voluntary market exchange, when they develop preferences among alternative social and economic policies. That expected stream of income results from the interaction of the magnitude and the certainty of income flows under conditions of market contracting. People whose income flow is small and/or uncertain have lower expected incomes than market participants with expectations of a high and comparatively certain flow. The former will want to employ authoritative redistribution of resources in favor of the less well-off through government policies to improve their own income position. The latter will want to leave market allocation alone as much as possible.
