(Wealth) Redistribution¶

Classical Economics, 1817

The idea an armed robber “redistributing” money from a bank vault is morally righteous if the bank has been keeping it for themselves as their property.

Although it’s largely an economic term (e.g. taxation) beginning with David Ricardo (“On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation”, 1817) and John Stuart Mill’s dad (John Mill), the concept is inexorably tied to Marx’s design for socialism in “Das Kapital”. Even after dekulakisation, contemporary social scientists are still puzzled over why it doesn’t work.