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I'd like to make a comment here about the problem of coercive wage bargains. Ann has raised the possibility of a poor woman being pressured by her circumstances to work in an unsafe factory at a very low wage. Are we to regard her agreement to work in the factory as "fair?"

It seems to me that whether we regard the agreement as fair depends on the standard of fairness we use, and the standard of fairness depends on the larger theory of justice to which we subscribe. In general, we might say that the agreement is unfair if it takes advantage of the fact that the woman does not have the liberties and resources that she is entitled to under our theory of justice.

Under Rawls's theory, for example, the difference principle implies that all inequalities are only justified if they benefit the worst off people in society. It is unlikely that anyone would take a very low wage job in an unsafe factory if this principle were being adhered to. In Dee's libertarian theory of justice the standard of fairness is different and the agreement is fair.

If our theory of justice requires that non-owners be compensated for the losses they incur under a regime of strong private property rights, then, again, the wage bargain in question would probably be judged unfair.