Does She Exploit or Doesn't She?

Karl Widerquist, University of Reading

Abstract

Gijs Van Donselaar uses a Guathier-based definition of exploitation (A exploits B if A is better off and B worse off than either of them would have been had the other not existed) and a related concept the abuse of rights in a series of two-person examples to demonstrate that an unconditional basic income can be parasitic and to make the case that everyone has both a right and responsibility to work. This paper argues that the same conclusions cannot be made in a world of more than two people. Exploitation may be indefinable, and information problems may make both of these concepts unknowable and unworkable in a multi-person world.