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Full Idea
If we can make sense of a hypothetical insurance market, and find a determinate answer to the question of what insurance people would buy in it, then we could use the tax system to duplicate the results.
Gist of Idea
If we assess what people would buy in an imaginary insurance market, our taxes could copy it
Source
report of Ronald Dworkin (A Matter of Principle [1985]) by Will Kymlicka - Contemporary Political Philosophy (1st edn) 2.4.b
Book Ref
Kymlicka,Will: 'Contemporary Political Philosophy (1st edn)' [OUP 1992], p.79
A Reaction
This is a nice alternative from Dworkin to Rawls's 'veil of ignorance' approach.
Related Idea
Idea 19800 The social compact imposes conventional equality of rights on people who may start unequally [Rousseau]
| 18639 | If we assess what people would buy in an imaginary insurance market, our taxes could copy it [Dworkin, by Kymlicka] |
| 23104 | Dworkin believed we should promote equality, to increase autonomy [Dworkin, by Kekes] |
| 23257 | We can treat people as equals, or actually treat them equally [Dworkin, by Grayling] |
| 18621 | Treating people as equals is the one basic value of all plausible political theories [Dworkin, by Kymlicka] |