Working Papers

Abstract: Contemporary republicans stand in an ambiguous relationship with the John Rawls. Republicanism has often been seen as an alternative to liberalism, and yet Rawls himself famously asserted in 1993 that there is “no fundamental opposition” between the two traditions. Only a few years after this pronouncement, however, significant contributions by Philip Pettit, Quentin Skinner, and others transformed republicanism from a relatively obscure political doctrine of interest mainly to intellectual historians into one of the leading approaches to contemporary normative political theory. This paper reassesses how republican theorists should regard the greatest political philosopher of the twentieth century.

Abstract: An important debate has arisen within the republican literature regarding how contemporary economies might be structured so as to enhance rather than detract from freedom. Many authors have expressed concern that modern employment relations impose significant domination on workers, and indeed a few have argued that the wage-labor system does so necessarily. The structure of work is rapidly changing, however, and there are some indications that the traditional wage-labor system might be giving way to a new ‘platform economy’ in which market participants coordinate with one another directly through decentralized spot contracts in a digital platform. This paper will argue that while the rise of the platform economy has the potential to ease concerns about workplace domination, it introduces significant new concerns about the uncontrolled power to constitute digital marketplaces. Republicans are better positioned to articulate and address these concerns than are rival political doctrines such as mainstream liberalism.

Abstract: The central value in republican political theory is freedom from domination. Many republicans, including Philip Pettit, argue that this value should be articulated in terms of the freedom of persons or citizens, rather than in terms of the freedom of choice. This response considers what difference it would make to adopt the language of freedom of persons, and argues that for most purposes apart from rhetorical presentation, the language of freedom of choice is better.

Abstract: Adam Smith’s theory of economic value figures among the more widely debated of his contributions to the history of economic thought. On the traditional interpretation, Smith inherits from his predecessors a subjective value theory that anticipates the modern marginal utility account; unfortunately, he abandons it in favor of a misguided cost of production theory, and thereby delays the development of economics for nearly a century. This paper argues that Smith needs a distinct account of natural prices to serve as the normative benchmark for evaluating market prices, and that he introduces a cost of production theory of the former precisely because it is especially useful in attacking monopolies and the colonial system.