Flower, John. Accounting and Distributive Justice, Taylor & Francis Group, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/newpaltz-ebooks/detail.action?docID=534219.
Summary:
In his book, Accounting and Distributive Justice, John Flower examines the different theories of social justice, it’s theories, and it’s practicality. Flower explains how the incentive problem plagues Egalitarianism as individuals are unenthusiastic about working more for those less privileged. He also critiques Neoliberalism, a theory most capitalist countries are founded on towards varying degrees, in how assumptions that a growing economy leads towards more resources for everyone is flawed. Neoliberalism purports that everyone must be paid relative to the output produced. Flower argues the premise is flawed because it’s impossible to truly quantify an individual’s contribution towards total output and having people with disabilities are negatively affected because–reasons outside their control—they sometimes cannot produce the same output as one more able-bodied. Flower believes John Rawl’s Justice as Fairness argument to be the most sound. It’s that people should have equal access to primary goods (rights, liberties, opportunities, income, and wealth) regardless of their background and must benefit the less privileged. However, Flower notes that Rawl’s theory is just one of many arguments to be made on distributive justice.
Evaluation/Reflection:
John Flower was a former Professor of Accounting at the University of Bristol as well as the Director of the Centre for Research In European Accounting in Brussels. John Flower, while certainly more economically liberal, remains mostly unbiased in his dissection of differing socioeconomic theories. He presents each argument with their strengths and flaws and records the theory’s proponents’ defense for their argument. His book is specifically useful for me as he analyzes arguments for and against Neoliberalism and Libertarianism which are economic theories that the recipient of my letter believes in. This will be useful in considering and writing about the other side in my letter.
Villiers, Charlotte. “Controlling Executive Pay: Institutional Investors or Distributive Justice?” Journal of Corporate Law Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, Oct. 2010, pp. 309–342. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5235/147359710793129408.
Summary:
Charlotte Villiers in the Journal of Corporate Law Studies writes about how to control Executive Pay and the problems facing it. He writes how executives receive bonuses because of their performance-based pay and the levels of compensation have dramatically increased. CEO’s attempt to justify their actions by noting their value to the company’s growth. However, Villiers believes that deregulation of the markets, along with the consolidation of power and even fraud contributes to the rise of CEO compensation. He also criticizes those who argue that shareholders are ultimately responsible for these large remuneration bonuses. Shareholders do not have as much power as it might seem and despite their increasing objection to increasing remunerations, rarely does any change truly happen. Given the circumstances, Villiers argues that distributive justice and increased transparency be used to counteract overpay. While he doesn’t choose which distributive justice theory is most suitable, he does conclude with a call for researching a distributive justice framework that can be applied to the real world.
Reflection:
Charlotte Villiers taught at the Universities of Sheffield and Glasgow and dedicates her writing towards the subject of corporate social responsibility. The article has been published in a respected journal and is filled with footnotes I could use for further research. I would use this as the basis for my main argument as it describes the problem of excessive CEO remuneration and offers suggestions on how to fix it. I will also use it in conjunction with the book above to address and rebuttal the arguments my recpicant would make. This provides a solid introduction into the ideas of distributive justice and its various applications