Critical Thinking Analysis of "Equality Term Paper

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In an economy that is based primarily on private enterprise, public efforts to promote equality represent a deliberate interference

This passage posed crucial questions from the reader, one of which is the determination of the terms "split-level institutional structure" and "capitalistic level" for better comprehension among readers, especially those who does not have any background in economics. Apart from this fault in Okun's conceptual framework, this passage also failed to capture the readers' understanding because the author failed to provide specific cases and examples to prove his argument.

Another problem in Okun's conceptualization of the equality-efficiency relationship is that he displayed lack of flexibility and open-mindedness in considering that the issue of rights as encompassing the economic sphere, and also includes the socio- political, cultural, and even historical roots from which human rights developed. This was evident when he claimed that "the domain of rights is full of infringements on the calculus of economic efficiency. Our rights can be viewed as inefficient..." (10). In this claim, Okun covered only one facet of the issue of rights, which is the economic aspect. There was no elaboration on the relationship of the economic sphere with the political, cultural, and historical roots of rights, as it relates to the individual and society. Establishing a relationship among these factors is crucial because this is not only inevitable, but a complete picture of rights (individual and collective) will provide readers a deeper understanding of the different dynamics surrounding the issue at hand.

Okun was also found to commit the fallacy of generalizing without sufficient support from data and secondary information.

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Chapter 2, wherein Okun cited economic policies implemented that were related to equality and efficiency, his claim on the issue of lobbying for specific issues concerning property rights were not supported by specific cases or data. By simply stating that there are "subtle dependencies" and "the wealthy can obtain undue political leverage," Okun failed to give clarity to these terms, and their relationship to the issue being discussed (27). In a similar manner, Okun failed to provide sufficient evidence to support his succeeding argument, which asserted that "Congress has realized that no single person speaks for the consumer" (29). This general statement did not have statistical data to prove this claim -- that indeed, a member or members of the Congress recognized this consumer problem.

Chapter three, which discussed the issue of income and equality of opportunity, featured the same fallacy of generalization committed in the previous chapters. In the statement, "[i]ncome and wealth are the two box-score numbers in the record book on people's economic positions," Okun had consistently shown a commitment to stating general statements without statistical evidence or data support (65). A similar fault in analysis was committed when he discussed the issue of income inequality. Lastly, specific instances that further made Okun's analysis ineffective and unconvincing was his use of 'loaded' statements and incorrect cause-and-effect relationship (i.e., pointing to unequal opportunity, unequal income and inefficiency as having the same relationship, when in fact inefficiency is the effect of two….....

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