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ASSET INEQUALITY, ECONOMIC VULNERABILITY AND RELATIONAL EXPLOITATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2018

Gilbert L. Skillman
Gilbert L. Skillman*
Affiliation:
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA. URL: http://www.wesleyan.edu. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract:

In response to Roemer's reformulation of the Marxian concept of exploitation in terms of comparative wealth distributions (1982, 1996), Vrousalis (2013) treats economic exploitation as an explicitly relational phenomenon in which one party takes advantage of the other's economic vulnerability in order to extract a net benefit. This paper offers a critical assessment of Vrousalis's account, prompting a revised formulation that is analysed in the context of a matching and bargaining model. This analysis yields precise representations of Vrousalis's conditions of economic vulnerability and economic exploitation and facilitates comparison to the alternative conceptions of Marx and Roemer.

Keywords

inequalityexploitationbargaining
Type
Symposium Article
Information
Economics & Philosophy , Volume 34 , Special Issue 3: Exploitation , November 2018 , pp. 343 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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