Mich : Why defend pre-distribution?

Delphine Irac

According to its proponents, pre-distribution refers to some social justice that should be accomplished before redistribution by the State (Meade, Hacker, O’Neill). However the regulation and the distribution functions of the State being almost impossible to disentangle, this definition does not seem applicable. We argue that pre-distribution mostly means that the work of providing justice should be assigned to a broad range of institutions (O’Neill, Tan), including firms, and not only to the State. Any economic arguments in defense of pre-distribution shatter on the question of efficiency and market induced pie-maximization (Piketty). Rather we argue that pre-redistribution is a pre-requisite for robust democratic equality.