Source: EconLog
by Max Molden
“Friedrich Hayek argued that only action can be just or unjust. So, when the famous Austrian playwright and novelist Odon von Horvath was promenading on the Champs-Elysees during a thunderstorm and was hit — and ultimately killed — by a bough of some tree, we cannot speak of injustice. The tree did not intend to kill him; it just happened. But Hayek’s view that justice only meaningfully applies to actions has further (and perhaps more important) implications. It also implies that the income and wealth patterns in a pure market economy are neither just nor unjust. While it certainly can be just or unjust how two people in the market economy interact, the specific order resulting from the interaction of millions of people is neither just nor unjust.” (08/27/24)
https://www.econlib.org/maneuvering-in-the-messy-mixed-economy/