Economics Is Not Fair

A conservative-leaning Harvard economist offers up this idea:

http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/mankiw/files/Spreading%20the%20Wealth%20Around.pdf

A more liberal Jonathan Weinstein offers up this rebuttal:

http://theoryclass.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/just-deserts.pdf

As though the idea of economics or taxation were predicated upon fairness!

Mr. Weinstein bites off more than he can chew by utilizing what I would consider two fallacies of logic: argumentum ad crumenam by relying on Warren Buffet as an arbiter for fairness in economics, quoted presumably because he was a subject of study in Mankiw's paper with regards to effective taxation, and the straw man argument that according to Mankiw, free market outcomes are fair. I believe that Mankiw recognizes in his work that some people come into better financial means in decidedly unfair ways (which is why he is in support of Pigovian measures).

Economics are to the economy what science is to religion: There are forces at work that guide human behavior in ways that economists cannot predict. What appears to happen is that on average, we see the correct values in transactions. In a static and perfect model of economics, there would be little room for arbitrage. Clearly this is not the case in reality. It is this unpredictable factor that leads to so many economists being wrong on market predictions.

Furthermore, Mankiw referenced in his paper the more classical economists, among which he included Milton Friedman. I doubt seriously that he ever considered the world 'fair', much less economics. Some people work very hard, but are poor allocators of resources. To the point, there is a reason an accountant is paid more than a ditch digger. None would deny that digging a ditch is hard work, but they lack the expertise to offer greater value to others, and as such are paid less. Fair? No, not really, but it has lead to greater wealth and success for all, in spite of the growing disparity between high and low income earners.

Even in a world where, as Mr. Weinstein paraphrased on behalf of classical liberals, there is equal opportunity for all, there still persists the inequalities handed to us by God (used in a colloquial sense). Try as I might, I will never be the great thinker that either Greg Mankiw or Joseph Weinstein will ever be. Fair? You tell me.