Se il filosofo avesse in mente qualcosa tipo la Danimarca pensando ad una società economicamente dinamica ed egalitaria, allora sarà per lui di grande interesse valutare i fenomeni migratori che oggi interessano quelle lande.
The Confederation of Danish Industries estimated in
August that the Danish labor force had shrunk by about 19,000 people through the
end of 2005, because Danes and others had moved elsewhere. Other studies suggest
that about 1,000 people leave the country each year, a figure that masks an
outflow of qualified Danes and an inflow of less skilled foreign workers who
help, at least partially, to offset the losses.
The problem, employers and economists believe, has a
lot to do with the 63 percent marginal tax rate paid by top earners in Denmark —
a level that hits anyone making more than 360,000 Danish kroner, or about
$70,000. That same tax rate underpins such effective income redistribution that
Denmark is the most nearly equal society in the world, in that wealth is more
evenly spread than anywhere else.
Mr Rawls ruled out emigration, as a simplifying
stipulation. The Times
article does an excellent job of showing how supra-national mobility rights
in a not-so-simple world limit the feasibility of egalitarian welfare states
that rely on punishingly high tax rates.
