Beyond Individual Responsibility for Lifestyle: Granting a Fresh and Fair Start to the Regretful

Vansteenkiste, Sarah; Devooght, Kurt; Schokkaert, Erik

doi:10.1093/phe/pht041

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(34 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this line of reasoning it should not be seen as problematic that individuals who opted for criminal activities end up with lower employment probabilities. On the other hand real freedom also implies the freedom to change preferences (Vansteenkiste et al, 2012). Fleurbaey (2005) therefore argues in favour of some "forgiveness" (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One could thus argue in favour of incorporating a past criminal record as a prohibited ground for unequal treatment as a "forgiving" policy. 13 In some cases it is not possible to distinguish between those who really changed their preferences and those who say they have changed (see, e.g., Vansteenkiste et al (2012) for an elaboration on this idea in the context on an unhealthy lifestyle). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment

Baert

Verhofstadt

2014

Applied Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In view of policy action to integrate ex-offenders into society, it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms of the negative relationship between criminal record on the one hand and later employment and earnings on the other hand. In this study, we identify hiring discrimination against former juvenile delinquents in a direct way. To this end, we conduct a field experiment in the Belgian labour market. We find that labour market discrimination is indeed a major barrier in the transition to work for former juvenile delinquents. Labour market entrants disclosing a history of juvenile delinquency get about 22 percent less callback compared to their counterparts without a criminal record. This discrimination is heterogeneous by the occupation for which one applies. I. IntroductionFormer contributions have been giving evidence for a causal negative relationship between criminal record on the one hand and later employment and earnings on the other hand (Lott, 1990;Waldfogel, 1994;Grogger, 1995; Needels, 1996;Borland and Hunter, 2000;Western et al., 2001;Kling, 2006;Graffam et al., 2008;Holzer, 2009;Apel and Sweeten, 2010;Dominguez Alvarez and Loureiro, 2012). This finding is important as this labour market sanction for crime is an important component of 2 overall punishment (Holzer, 2009). These adverse labour market outcomes among former ex-offenders may have important well-being effects: unemployed are less happy (satisfied with their life) than employed (Dolan et al., 2008;Stiglitz et al., 2009;Helliwell et al., 2012). 1 Moreover, limited work opportunities may also encourage exoffenders to return to crime (Needels, 1996; Raphael and Weiman, 2007;Wu and Wu, 2012).In view of policy action to integrate ex-offenders into society, it is important to identify the underlying mechanisms of the aforementioned relationship between criminal record and later labour market outcomes. Is the negative association between criminal record and later labour market outcomes fully explained by supply side factors such as differences in worker productivity, work interest and work networks between ex-offenders and non-offenders (Waldfogel, 1994;Kling, 2006;Holzer, 2009;Apel and Sweeten, 2010)? Or does it also reflect employer discrimination so that the adverse labour market effects of criminal record are at least partly out of control of the ex-offender? In this paper we identify hiring discrimination against juvenile delinquents in Belgium using a correspondence test.Former contributions have been giving theoretical grounds for and ethical elaborations on labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents.1 Knabe and Rätzel (2011a) calculate that the well-being costs of unemployment are about two times higher than its pecuniary costs. The meta-analysis from McKee-Ryan et al. (2005) indicates that these well-being cost are higher for young people than for unemployed adults. Besides the impact of current unemployment on current well-being, there is also a "scarring-effect of unemployment" (Clark et al., 2...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment

Baert

Verhofstadt

2014

Applied Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recently, an interesting concern has been raised regarding luck egalitarianism; namely, that luck egalitarianism fails in providing a 'fresh start' to those who fare badly. The critique was developed by Fleurbaey (Fleurbaey, 2008) and has recently been explicitly applied to the context of health (Vansteenkiste, Devooght, & Schokkaert, 2014). 35 Could we say that the luck egalitarian allocation of livers goes astray in light of this critique?…”

Section: Assessing Critiquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drinking in the last chance saloon: luck egalitarianism, alcohol consumption, and the organ transplant waiting list

Albertsen

2016

Med Health Care and Philos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The scarcity of livers available for transplants forces tough choices upon us. Lives for those not receiving a transplant are likely to be short. One large group of potential recipients needs a new liver because of alcohol consumption, while others suffer for reasons unrelated to their own behaviour. Should the former group receive lower priority when scarce livers are allocated? This discussion connects with one of the most pertinent issues in contemporary political philosophy; the role of personal responsibility in distributive justice. One prominent theory of distributive justice, luck egalitarianism, assesses distributions as just if, and only if, people's relative positions reflect their exercises of responsibility. There is a principled luck egalitarian case for giving lower priority to those who are responsible for their need. Compared to the existing literature favouring such differentiation, luck egalitarianism provides a clearer rationale of fairness, acknowledges the need for individual assessments of responsibility, and requires initiatives both inside and outside of the allocation systems aimed at mitigating the influence from social circumstances. Furthermore, the concrete policies that luck egalitarians can recommend are neither too harsh on those who make imprudent choices nor excessively intrusive towards those whose exercises of responsibility are assessed.

show abstract

“…1 For an interesting critique of the social determinants literature, see Deaton 2013 2 I draw a distinction between critique of luck egalitarianism and the more general debate regarding individual responsibility in health, for such discussion see Daniels 2011;Boddington 2009;Goldberg 2012;Harris 1995;Magnusson 2010;Minkler 1999;Resnik 2007;Vansteenkiste et. al.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Luck Egalitarianism, Social Determinants and Public Health Initiatives

Albertsen

2014

Public Health Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

People's health is hugely affected by where they live, their occupational status and their socioeconomic position. It has been widely argued that the presence such social determinants in health provides good reasons to reject luck egalitarianism as a theory of distributive justice in health. The literature provides different reasons why this responsibility-sensitive theory of distributive justice should not be applied to health. The critiques submit that 1) the social circumstances undermines or remove people's responsibility for their health 2) that responsibility sensitive health policies would adversely affect those who are worst off and 3) that the luck egalitarian approach to health distracts from the important task of rectifying socioeconomic influences on people health and provides individualistic solutions to collective problems. But for each of these variants of the critique luck egalitarianism provides suitable answers. The literature on social determinants is not detriment to the project of applying luck egalitarianism to health distributions.

show abstract

Beyond Individual Responsibility for Lifestyle: Granting a Fresh and Fair Start to the Regretful

Cited by 12 publications

References 28 publications

Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment

Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment

Drinking in the last chance saloon: luck egalitarianism, alcohol consumption, and the organ transplant waiting list

Luck Egalitarianism, Social Determinants and Public Health Initiatives

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About