by Jim Rose in applied welfare economics, constitutional political economy, economic history, Rawls and Nozick Tags: Brad Delong, Elizabeth Warren, good old days, John Rawls, The Great Enrichment, The Great Escape, The Great Fact, time machine, Twitter left

Brad DeLong set up a thought experiment to work out if we were better off than in the good old days. He asked how much money would you want to take with you if you had to step into a time machine to go back to some specific point in time and not be worse off for the trip in living standards and life expectancy. He was writing in 1995, talking about going back to 1895.

John Rawls asks a similar question by saying what type of society would you to agree to in a social contract if you’re behind a veil of ignorance. You didn’t know where you were going to be in society behind the veil of ignorance.

All you know you is you will be some random member of that society, at the top, bottom or somewhere in between.

…no one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like.

What social institutions would you agree in that society given you don’t know where you will be in it?

John Rawls also said that the society was fair if you didn’t mind showing up somewhere in it as a random member.

Let’s suppose a thought experiment which combines a time machine with a veil of ignorance:

Alien proctologists from outer space take time off from kidnapping rednecks at closing time at pubs to kidnap you instead;

After probing your nether regions, but before flying off to light years away where they came from without any further earthly contact they offer you the option of beaming back to where you came from but with a twist in time;

You can beam back to be a random member of your current society or a random member of a society in the past of your choice; but

Random reassignment to either the present or a past of your choosing are your only options as the alien kidnap victim.

Behind that inter-temporal veil of ignorance, would you choose to be a random member of your own society or prefer to beam back in time to before the ravages of neoliberalism destroyed the good old days?

Apparently, we not a cent better off compared to the 70s because all the income gains, every single cent, went into the pockets of the top 10%, if Senator Warren is to be believed in her recent Washington post op-ed:

When you line up by Senator Warren to go into the time machine, remember to leave your iPhones and air points at the door.