CHAPTER

24

Concluding Notes on the Social Philosophy

TOWARDS WHICH THE GENERAL THEORY MIGHT LEAD

I

The outstanding faults of the economic society inwhich we live are its failure to provide for full employ-ment and its arbitrary and inequitable distribution ofwealth and incomes. The bearing of the foregoingtheory on the first of these is obvious. But there arealso two important respects in which it is relevant tothe second.

Since the end of the nineteenth century significantprogress towards the removal of very great disparitiesof wealth and income has been achieved through theinstrument of direct taxation—income tax and surtaxand death duties—especially in Great Britain . Manypeople would wish to see this process carried muchfurther, but they are deterred by two considerations;partly by the fear of making skilful evasions too muchworth while and also of diminishing unduly the motivetowards risk-taking, but mainly, I think, by the beliefthat the growth of capital depends upon the strengthof the motive towards individual saving and that for alarge proportion of this growth we are dependent onthe savings of the rich out of their superfluity. Ourargument does not affect the first of these considera-tions. But it may considerably modify our attitudetowards the second. For we have seen that, up tothe point where full employment prevails, the growth37 2