The standard objection to proposals such as those described in Part Two is that reduced inequality can be achieved only at the expense of lowering economic output or slowing economic growth. We have to sacrifice efficiency in order to secure greater economic justice.

To this objection, I have two responses. First, the possibility that the cake will be shrunk by the proposals is not a knock-down argument against pursuing them, since a smaller cake more fairly distributed may be preferable to a larger one with present levels of inequality; the two aspects--size and distribution--have to be considered in conjunction. [...]