Does Unequal Mean Unfair

Does Unequal Mean Unfair

If you and I have different incomes, is that unfair? Strange as it may seem, the chattering class is full of people who think equality and fairness are the same thing. Conversely, they assume that inequality of income is unfairness, per se.

In a study for the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), economist David Henderson demolishes this notion. Most inequality, Henderson shows, is the result of choices people make — including the choice to work — not the result of unfairness or accidental events over which people have no control.

For the moment,...