Beyond the myth of the equity-efficiency trade-off: A theoretical approach

Abstract

Development, on the one hand, consists of the concepts such as efficiency and progress and, on the other hand, it is based on the concepts of justice and equality. In the meanwhile, these two series of concepts are extremely relying on the fundamental opposition between matter and meaning- an opposition which itself is an old-known basic distinction in all human sciences. However, regardless of the vital importance of this opposition, almost all studies conducted around the relation between justice and efficiency have been centered merely on technical concepts, which means we hardly need deeper studies with more epistemological concerns around these concepts. In the present study, we intend to show that we need to think in a new language and in a new sphere. In opposition to the present discourse of development, we proposed a new model, based on needs, and a qualitative form of social -economy, which does not remain within the limits of dominant discourse of rationality, and in the shadow of a critical- pragmatic theory and through a democratic process from below- up, helps constructing a public sphere, that will be the best ground to solve the old enigma as well as the justice- efficiency opposition.