I must admit I am a little suprised that Pen-l-ers would be debating this issue in terms of neoclassical marginal productivity. This is the equivalent of arguing, what is the marginal productivity of a mugger? (i.e. someone who has market power because of some non-market force.) The moment one moves to a non-neoclassic frameworke (as Jim D suggests) then the problem is "solved". There is a surplus distribution problem. This is not a market problem, but a power problem. (Why is it that non-neoclassical economists avoid the issue of power?) One can utilize rent theory to justify the resulting justification. But, if we were honest, that is really crap. Let us put it a different way, what is the mp of a crime king (and are CEOs really different?) And on a different stream, a colleague of mine posted a document documenting horrendous war crimes against the Unites States Government, specifically with regard to the use of biological warfare against Cuba. Yet, despite the level of despisity (is that a word) of the offense, not one member of this list from the US has responded. Comment? Paul Phillips, Economics, University of Manitoba
