Economic Inequality: An Ethical Response
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Development, Inequality and Poverty
“At the macro level, it is about frictionless flow of capital, services, goods and labour across the globe. It is also about global sharing of ideas, knowledge and culture. It is about creating a shared concern and plan for global issues like poverty, AIDS and environment...At the microeconomic or firm level, it is about sourcing capital from where it is cheapest, sourcing talent from where it is best available, producing where it is most efficient and selling where the markets are, without being constrained by national boundaries”.
3. Poverty, Rich-Poor Divide and the Rhetoric over Development
4. Agricultural Sectors
5. Neo-Liberalism, Corruption and Inequality
6. Development and Inequality: An Ethical Evaluation in Light of Catholic Social Teaching (CST)7
6.1. Basic Principles of CST
- The Dignity of Every Person: CST holds that every human person has a unique and sacred dignity. This dignity is not something acquired by one’s effort, or granted by those in authority, but based on the truth that every person is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:27). For CST, this implies that human development cannot be understood only in terms of economic development, but includes social, cultural, political and spiritual aspects of human person. That is, any government or system dominated by the concern of economic development alone is against authentic human development. The notion of the dignity of every person implies the equality of all human beings. Based on this, CST stands for a just sharing of social status, political power and economic resources. The concept of human rights basically derives from the equal dignity of all human beings.
- Solidarity: CST is founded on the conviction that all of us belong to one human family, and hence we have the obligation to promote the rights and development of all people, irrespective of national boundaries. In particular, wealthy nations and wealthy persons have a greater obligation to promote the development of poorer nations and people. Dignity and intrinsic worth of persons cannot be understood in terms of an individualistic right in isolation, but only in the context of the obligations to human community as a whole.
- Family: Family occupies an important place in CST. Family is the primary cell of the society and the ‘domestic Church.’ Hence CST criticises economic and social conditions that disturb family life (Second Vatican Council 1965, para 47).
- Private Property: CST defends the right to private ownership of property. However, this is not an absolute and unconditional right. As Populorum Progressio says, “Private property does not constitute for anyone an absolute and unconditional right. No one is justified in keeping for his exclusive use what he does not need, when others lack necessities” (Paul VI 1967, para. 23). This is re-affirmed by John Paul II: “The goods of this world are equally meant for all. The right to private property is valid and necessary, but it does not nullify the value of this principle. Private property, in fact, is under a social mortgage” (John Paul II 1987, para. 42).
- Option for the Poor: Rights of all human beings are to be ensured. At the same time, CST shows a special option for the poor, because the dignity and rights of the poor are often ignored and abused. This preferential option is rooted in the biblical concept of justice, namely, God has a preferential love and concern for the poor, the marginalized and the suffering. CST is also aware of the structures of sin which continue to keep the poor as poor or make their condition worse.
- Care of Creation: CST has directly addressed this issue only in recent decades, but there is a growing concern over this, realizing its urgency, as it is evident from the encyclical letter of Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ (Francis 2015). Human beings are called to be co-creators. They have to depend on the natural resources for their sustenance. But, this should be done respecting the ecological balance, not destroying it with selfishness and greed.
6.2. Christian Vision of Wealth and Private Property
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- If it denies the basic rights and well-being of others
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- If persons, groups and sections of society are marginalised
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- If wealth is not shared, especially with the needy
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- If equal opportunities are denied, especially to the poor and weaker sections of the society
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- If wealth is acquired violating the basic principles of justice and solidarity with others
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- If inequality leads to conflicts in the society
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- If profit instead of human persons becomes the centre of economic activity
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- If wealth is acquired causing harm to nature, which belongs to all, including the generations to come
6.3. Globalization, Neo-Liberalism and Economic Solidarity
6.4. Solidarity with the Environment
7. Economic Development in Solidarity: A Few Proposals
- Goods are to be shared without excluding anyone, without some hoarding them depriving others of the right to own them. This is one of the basic principles to ensure solidarity both in the international and intra-national levels. This is especially to be ensured in the case of fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources.
- International organisations should ensure just prices in trade. Multinational and big companies manage to arbitrarily determine the prices of agricultural products and natural resources. Often, the poor farmers become the victims of this unjust system, making them poorer. On an international level, subsidies are to be granted on essential goods to poor nations.
- Affirmative action to support weaker sections of the society is necessary to build up a more egalitarian society. Poor sections within the nation are to be offered special subsidies. India, for example, had the system of granting subsidies to the poor and the middle class. Since the introduction of the neo-liberalism, a number of subsidies were cut, especially under the pressure of IMF, WTO, etc. It is claimed that subsidy system slows down the economic growth. However, it is paradoxical that to save big national and multinational companies, big amounts are written off. Often, the loss to the economy in writing off the debt of the multi-million companies is much more than the subsidies granted to the poor. Preferential choice for the poor is an essential element of solidarity.
- Specially to be mentioned is the obligation of the developed/industrialized countries to help the poorest. This is essential to bring down inequality at the international level. In most cases, this is a demand of justice of restitution, that is, a compensation for unjustifiable exploitation that many poor countries had to undergo in the past. Without generous assistance, many such countries are unable to develop, as they still do not have the basic facilities and infrastructure. However, this assistance should not be on conditions which enslave them further.
- External debt of the poor nations: Besides being backward, most of the poor nations are over-burdened by huge external debts which hinder their development. This is particularly true in the case of many African countries. Moreover, these debts often compel them to accept exploitative conditions by rich nations and multi-national corporations, resulting in further underdevelopment. Unless rich nations are willing to cancel the debt of the poor nations (or at least to write off a considerable amount of it), it will be impossible for these nations to find the path of development (Makwana 2006).
- Patent regulations, which control the production of essential goods and their prices are to be reconsidered.12 This is acutely felt in the case of life-saving and essential medicines. While respecting the right of the inventor and producer for just profit, patent regulations should become sensitive to the needs of the people, especially of the poor. The historic ruling given by the Supreme Court of India, rejecting the petition by Novartis, and allowing the domestic companies to continue to make copycat versions of the drug Gleevec (Glivec), gives new hopes to the poor. Whereas Gleevec may cost $70,000 a year, the Indian generic versions cost less than $2,500 a year.13 Evidently, such steps may be resisted by the multi-national corporations. But, they are necessary steps not to exclude the poor and the less privileged from the benefits of development.
- Banking and credit system have to become more accessible to the poor at affordable interest rates. Otherwise, their financial condition will be affected further and they will be marginalised from the benefits of economic progress.
- Governments and NGOs should work together to ensure sustainable development, respecting the ecological conditions of the regions concerned. More investment should be made in developing alternative energy sources. As mentioned above, though the harm done to ecology affects all, it is the poor who are affected more by the damage done to ecology.
- An economic system where the multinational companies are accountable—either in their home country or where they set up their units—to the society should be developed. Terms and conditions for investment should not be decided unilaterally by those companies, but with the involvement of the state and the society.
- Although the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] is accepted in principle, there is a lack of clarity regarding its implementation. At the national and international levels, there should be clear understanding of the percentage of profit that the business firms invest in CSR. Investing this especially in education and healthcare is vital to bringing down inequality.
- Special care should be taken to make education, including higher education, equitable and affordable. The upward movement of the poor and the middleclass depends to a great extent on education. If the fees are too high, they are practically excluded from the process of development, widening further the rich-poor gap.
- Works of charity, though may not be accepted as a long-term solution by many, is a necessary way of expressing solidarity with the poor. The poor and the hungry will not be able to survive until economic equality is achieved and all have sufficient to survive. So, to deny charity to the hungry and those who live in utter misery and poverty on an ideological basis is equal to denying them the right to live.
- In the private sector companies, there is often a huge difference between the payment for the employees in the highest ranks and those in the lowest ranks. Is it possible to decide upon the maximum difference in the salaries and benefits received by those in the topmost ranks and lowest ranks within the same firm, as well as in the same country?
8. Concluding Remarks
Conflicts of Interest
References
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1 | This particular phrase is in fact the subheading given to paragraph numbers 76–77. |
2 | We may be confused by the statistics provided by different agencies. I have to acknowledge that the statistical data provided by different agencies do not agree with each other, and the criterion for deciding the poverty line is varied and confusing. |
3 | Though the official statistics may give it as 9 million, it is pointed out that including the suburbs which are practically part of the city, the population is more than 12 million. Some also say that considering the population Bangalore is already the third largest city in India. |
4 | At Nandigram in West Bengal, the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) led government decided to expropriate 10,000 acres (40 km2) of land from the farmers for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be developed by the Indonesian based Salim Group for industrialization. This was opposed by the farmers and this led to widespread violence and killing and rape of many by the police and allegedly by the CPIM party workers in March 2007. Finally the government was forced to abandon the project. It may be paradoxical that the CPIM, who claims to be protectors of farmers, acted against the farmers and let loose violence on them. Eventually, the CPIM which ruled West Bengal for about three decades, lost the assembly election in 2011. |
5 | The Coke bottling plant set up in March 2000 began drawing over five hundred thousand litres of water from the wells on its premises each day. This resulted in the drastic depletion of water levels resulting in crop failure in the locality and thus inviting protests of the locals and environmental activists alike. Besides the depletion of water, the waste material from the factory caused serious problems for the health of the people. It took some more time for all the concerned including the gram panchayat (= elected body of local administration) to comprehend the gravity of the situation and to take actions. The plant was producing one litre of Cola from four litres of water leaving behind 2.7 litres of wastewater and solid wastes. The groundwater of the village got heavily polluted as solid wastes containing hazardous chromium, cadmium, lead, etc., caused severe health problems to the villagers. Moreover, the company distributed the solid wastes to the farmers as fertilizers, thus harming the farmland too. The campaign was quite spontaneous attracting world-wide attention and resulting in the temporary shutdown of the plant in March 2004. However, the legal battle and the struggle continued demanding compensation for the victims. In the beginning no political parties were involved in the struggle, though when the movement took momentum, many political parties got involved. However, it remained as a struggle led by the local people. The struggle was led by local people like Mayilamma, an illiterate adivasi woman, and C.K. Janu, another adivasi woman. They became both symbols of resistance against the corporate giant. On 30 April 2010, a high-power committee set up by the Government of Kerala indicted the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited for causing incalculable harm to the ecology and the people of Plachimada, assessing the overall cost of the damage at 2.16 billion rupees. |
6 | The Hindu, 10 July 2011, 5. |
7 | From the beginning of Christian history we find social teaching as an integral part of its teaching. However, usually ‘Catholic Social Teaching’ refers to the developing body of official Catholic social teaching beginning with Rerum Novarum (1891) of Pope Leo XIII (Leo XIII 1891). |
8 | For a detailed presentation of the foundational principles of CST, see (Massaro 2012; Deberri et al. 2003, pp. 18–34). The following paragraphs highlighting some of the foundational principles of CST are mainly based on these books |
9 | Oscar Andres Cardinal Rodriguez M. “The Catholic Church and the Globalization of Solidarity” (Rodriguez 2003, 4). |
10 | Here I do not intend to discuss in detail how human beings should relate with nature, namely, nature as independently existing for itself, or nature as existing for human beings. For example, some of the Indian traditions treat nature as existing for itself, seeing the manifestation of God in everything, or nature as an extension of God, an approach which has been often called pantheistic. “Deep Ecology” in contemporary approaches to Ecological and Environmental philosophy has similar view of nature, though not with reference to God. A detailed discussion on this seems to be beyond the scope of this essay. Here the main concern is to ensure sustainable development, considering the needs of the present generation as well as those of the future generations. However, a completely anthropo-centric approach considering nature as existing only to be used by human beings may lead to ‘exploiting it as much as possible’. Instead, what is needed is a relationship of mutuality. |
11 | Here mainly we refer to some of the proposals given by Pope John Paul II (John Paul II 1998), Oscar Andres Cardinal Rodriguez M. (Rodriguez 2003, “The Catholic Church and the Globalization of Solidarity”) and Thomas Pogge (Pogge 2013). Please note that these or similar suggestions have been given by many experts and world leaders. |
12 | To understand the extent to which patent regulations are misused for business motives, it is enough to consider the dispute over the patent for turmeric, a traditional spice and medicine used in India for thousands of years: http://www1.american.edu/ted/turmeric.htm. Another example would be the dispute on patent for neemtree, a medicinal tree: http://www1.american.edu/TED/neemtree.htm. There were also attempts to obtain patent for Basmati rice and such traditional crops. |
13 | (Harris and Thomas 2013; Selvaraj 2013). Thomas Pogge’s article referred to above will be very helpful regarding the patent regulations regarding drugs. |
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Kochuthara, S.G. Economic Inequality: An Ethical Response. Religions 2017, 8, 141. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel8080141
Kochuthara SG. Economic Inequality: An Ethical Response. Religions. 2017; 8(8):141. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel8080141
Chicago/Turabian StyleKochuthara, Shaji George. 2017. "Economic Inequality: An Ethical Response" Religions 8, no. 8: 141. https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel8080141