Why inequality may not be unfair

In a country as rich as Singapore with no absolute poverty, economic inequality just means some people have become richer than others. If they succeeded due to hard work and their own merit without depriving others, then inequality by itself is not a bad thing.

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Why should we care about economic inequality?

That's a question that deserves to be debated, but one of the frustrating features of today's discussion is that the inequality critics have smuggled into the discussion a perspective on wealth which tacitly assumes that economic inequality is unjust.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 01, 2019, with the headline Why inequality may not be unfair. Subscribe