Poverty, Inequalities and the Perceptions on Distributive Justice

Distributive justice may mean different things to various schools of thought.
Active discussions on poverty and inequality are among economic debates which have
been going on for a long time. However, during the last fifty years, they have received
a lot more attention by both academicians and policy makers. Fifty years ago, growth
in national income was considered to be the most effective way of reducing poverty
and was the preferred policy goal even at the cost of increasing inequalities. Perspectives on both poverty and inequality have changed over time. The very definitions of
poverty have been revised. Poverty is now seen as having many manifestations. Money
income is not the only factor to determine who is poor, though it remains an important
element. In this paper, we discuss the issues involved in this debate and present
different views on distributive justice. The Islamic perspective on distributive justice
and the strategy to achieve it is given special attention.