ABSTRACT
The problem discussed in the preceding chapters has been presented in its most acute form in terms of the future of our economy if automation reduces markedly the importance in productive processes of men relative to that of machines. We have argued that to combine efficiency in the use of resources with equity in the distribution of income would in that case cry out for measures to equalize the distribution of the ownership of private property and to increase the net amount of property which was in social ownership. But the problem is not simply a hypothetical one of the future. Private property is at present greatly inflated by the national debt, and is very unequally distributed. With a real wage rate that acted as an ‘efficient’ price, property income (without any further automation) is already a very important element of total income. The combination of efficiency-in-use with equity-in-distribution already calls in the United Kingdom for measures for the equalization and the socialization of property ownership. These measures are needed, for the most part, to supplement rather than to replace the existing Welfare-State policies.
