Theories of Justice

Last week, lefty economist Max Sawicky linked a fascinating site devoted to different conceptions of distributive justice. You can observe changes in various economic and social indicators in different countries over time, read about competing theories of distributive justice, take a quiz to determine the theory with which you have the most affinity, compare your own views to those of other visitors, and even construct your own ideal society by playing the distributive justice "game." (So far, the minimal state is the second-least popular alternative: It fares better than strict egalitarianism but not as well as communism.) The characterization of the alternatives in the game strikes me as a bit loaded, as well as embodying some definite assumptions about which personality traits count as "deserved", but it's pretty interesting nevertheless.