Abstract

This article defends three claims: even if Rawls' difference principle permits incentives to induce talented people to be more productive, it does not follow that it permits inequalities; the difference principle, when adequately specified, may in some circumstances permit incentives and allow that the worst off are not made as well off as they could be; and an argument for incentives might pass Cohen's interpersonal test even if it is unsound and might not pass it even if it is sound. 1