ABSTRACT
Chapter 13 has in mind a contention that ‘throughout the classical economics there runs a strong argument against assigning to greater equality of income a primary role in social ethics’. I show that whereas Mill placed little emphasis on larger aggregate income, he was in fact preoccupied in the classical tradition with high average wages on grounds of the numerical significance of the labouring class; and while a higher average wage might be consistent with a falling wage share in national income Mill intended both. In a Conclusion I compare Mill and Marx regarding distribution, Marx’s main objection to focusing on distributive justice turning on the principle that the pattern of distribution is the necessary outcome of the ‘mode of production’ rendering ‘unfairness’ an irrelevant consideration. By contrast Mill’s reform proposals in the interest of fairness were intended to be of immediate relevance, their permanent success, dependent, however, upon responsible conduct on the part of the working classes. The questionable state of public opinion, Mill lamented, rendered doubtful the acceptability of the most radical, that relating to bequests.
