Towards a new way of sharing value?
Overview
The value generated by the production process must be distributed among three entities, which sometimes overlap: the individuals who work – or have worked – in creating this value, the owners of capital and means of production whose combination with labor is necessary for the process, and the State which organizes the financing of non-productive activities but useful to all, ensures various risks, and addresses certain market failures. The question of value sharing may be as old as economic science, yet it remains difficult and consistently subject to dispute. It is already complex to define in absolute terms what the right balance would be between wages, profits, and taxes. And even if we were to reach a semblance of consensus on this point, it would then need to be applied in a world where the actors are all different. Reflection on the fair distribution of value is, due to these difficulties, a very rich entry point for understanding the society in which we live.