Re:America’s banks are missing hundreds of billions of dollars
by robertlagrant on Friday March 24, 2023 @07:36AM
(#35287706)
Fair point - you didn't mention redistribution.
But I do think your argument of efficiency is not persuasive, as the definition of utility relies on people making choices they never regret, or that don't harm their total lifetime utility.
E.g. some people might want to take that money and save it, and if you come back to the situation in a year's time they now have more money than the people that bought beer. Now there's wealth inequality and they can buy something the others can't. Viewing the original situation in microcosm makes buying beer the "efficient" thing to do, but it also makes the second scenario less "efficient".
The point is not that redistribution is a good idea. The point is that wealth inequality makes the economy less efficient, and that it is something we should take into consideration.
Redistributing wealth might also make the economy less efficient, that's an argument that can be made.
From where I stand, it seems the inefficiency caused by wealth inequality is too rarely discussed relative to its harmful impact.
The problems caused by redistribution/taxes etc. are otoh extremely often raised.