Unless there is personal liberty human action cannot be judged as ethical or unethical. Classical liberalism assumes a framework of law that stops people from interfering with one another’s liberty. Since the rules are imposed by collective decision, this necessarily involves coercion of people who do not approve.

Inequality of incomes tends to arise from the preferences of consumers and voters between personal skills. Equal pay for unequal work prejudices people with less capacity by making them unemployable. Enforced equality of pay also requires direction of labour.

The central control of the means of production favoured by Western parties of the Left is likely to be less efficient than the decentralised controls of market systems.

Occasional Paper No. 52

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