I don’t share the view that it’s morally correct to ordain equal pay for all work (in comparison to equal pay for equal work). I have before argued that inequality is problematic when it means structural obstacles for equality in possibilities. But other than that some inequality is not only harmless, but also desirable. However, recently I read an interesting argument for why inequality is a problem – or at least too much inequality (so I can easily accept this argument since it is not in direct contention with my own, which is always nice). It was Joe Stiglitz who was commenting on the effect of increasing income inequalities during the last decades on the economy: “in fact we have transferred money from the poor to the rich, from people that would spend the money, to people that doesn’t have to spend it, and the result is a diminish collective demand” (I read this in Swedish and it is my own translation).
