A new representation of the just term in distributive-justice theory: Its properties and operation in theoretical derivation and empirical estimation

This paper proposes a new representation of the Just Term in the theory of distributive justice, one which meets all criticisms made of previously proposed representations while preserving all their useful features. The new representation enables statement of the sense of distributive justice as a function of specified subsets of four observable factors and a new unobservable factor, denoted phi. The paper establishes precisely how alternative characterizations of phi constrain theoretical derivation and empirical estimation of propositions describing the distributive-justice effects of the four observable factors on four types of observable individual-level phenomena. The results are summarized in four theorems.