John Roemer
Coupon socialism
Markets plus shared ownership of capital.
Reformist Market SocialistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Market Socialist hall →- Role
- Economist
- Era
- b. 1945
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- −70 · −2 · +55
§ Where John Roemer stands
3 axesRoemer wants to keep competitive markets while ending the concentrated private ownership of capital. In A Future for Socialism (1994) each adult receives coupons that can be used only to buy shares in firms and cannot be sold for cash, so profits are distributed nearly equally, while firms compete for customers and are monitored by banks. Wages and prices are left to markets, which is where his socialism stops.
Roemer's institutions are democratic and decentralised rather than revolutionary. His model relies on competing firms, banks and markets instead of central planning, leaving the state to issue coupons and steer investment through interest rates, and his Political Competition (2001) models how democratic parties compete over policy and redistribution, assuming a pluralist electoral system rather than one-party rule.
Roemer is an egalitarian progressive whose theory of justice targets inequalities people cannot be held responsible for. In Equality of Opportunity (1998) he proposed compensating for circumstances such as family background, race and sex while rewarding individual effort, and his co-authored Racism, Xenophobia, and Distribution (2007) examined how racial and anti-immigrant attitudes erode support for redistribution.
How close are you to John Roemer?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingJohn E. Roemer (born 1945) is an American economist and political philosopher who taught at the University of California, Davis before joining Yale University as a professor of political science and economics in 2000. Trained in mathematics at Harvard and in economics at the University of California, Berkeley, he became a leading figure of analytical Marxism, alongside G. A. Cohen, Jon Elster and Erik Olin Wright, which restated Marxist ideas using the tools of modern economics, game theory and analytical philosophy.
Roemer's A General Theory of Exploitation and Class (1982) redefined exploitation in terms of unequal ownership of productive assets rather than labour values. In A Future for Socialism (1994) he proposed coupon socialism, a market economy in which every citizen receives an equal, non-transferable share of company profits. His later work on equality of opportunity, distinguishing circumstances from effort, influenced empirical research on inequality. Critics on the left object that his model concedes too much to markets; critics on the right doubt that it would preserve incentives.
Notable for
- 01'A Future for Socialism'
- 02Coupon-socialism model
- 03Analytical Marxism
Key works & moments
- 1981Publishes Analytical Foundations of Marxian Economic Theory.
- 1982A General Theory of Exploitation and Class recasts exploitation through unequal asset ownership.
- 1994Proposes coupon socialism in A Future for Socialism.
- 1998Publishes Equality of Opportunity, separating circumstances from effort.
- 2000Joins Yale as professor of political science and economics.
- 2019Publishes How We Cooperate: A Theory of Kantian Optimization.
§ Minds closest to John Roemer
All minds →
§ Also in the Market Socialist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is John Roemer's political ideology?
John Roemer is a market socialist and egalitarian political philosopher: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Market Socialist. Economically he sits well to the left (−70), proposing that the profits of competitive firms be shared equally among all citizens. On governance he is close to the centre (−2), favouring democratic, decentralised institutions over central planning, and socially he is clearly progressive (+55), focusing on equal opportunity regardless of class, race or sex.
Is John Roemer left-wing or right-wing?
Left-wing. Roemer emerged from the analytical Marxist school and argues that capitalism's unequal ownership of capital is unjust. His left-wing politics are unusually market-friendly, however: he accepts competitive markets, prices and profit-seeking firms as efficient tools and rejects Soviet-style central planning. His goal is a socialism compatible with markets and democracy, placing him on the reformist rather than the revolutionary left.
What is coupon socialism?
Coupon socialism is Roemer's market-socialist model, set out in A Future for Socialism (1994). Every adult citizen receives an equal endowment of coupons that can be used only to buy shares in publicly traded firms, not exchanged for cash, so no one can accumulate large holdings of capital. Firms compete in markets and pay dividends to coupon holders, banks monitor their performance, and at death a person's shares return to the public treasury to be reissued. The aim is to combine market efficiency with an equal distribution of profits.
Which minds are closest to John Roemer?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to John Roemer are David Schweickart (98% alike), The Federation (illustrative) (97% alike) and Herbert Marcuse (92% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (6% alike).