ABSTRACT
Is distribution a sufficiently important problem for serious study, and if so, why? The views of economists have varied widely, both in the historical development of economic thought and in the writings of at any given period. At one extreme, some see the distribution of income, wealth, and power as the economic problem, far outranking "scarcity" or "efficiency." At the opposite extreme, some see distribution as a totally uninteresting problem-the outcome of more basic decisions "up the line." This chapter aims to provide a representative sample of economists' divergent views.
