That was the day Father had told the Burdens that Cash Benbow would never be elected Marshal in Jefferson. I don’t reckon the women paid any more attention to it than if all the men had decided that the day after tomorrow all the clocks in Jefferson were to be set back or up an hour.
| —William Faulkner, The Unvanquished |
Ha! Fun literary reference.
In previous holiday seasons, Landsburg has presented us with a present: a literary expose questioning the alleged harm arising from Scrooge’s behavior. On my Xmas list is an answer to the literary question, what is the sin that Jean Valjean committed against Fantine? His factory fired her, leaving her in poverty. But presumably it also hired a replacement, thereby rescuing someone from poverty. Thus on balance, I find nothing for which Valjean should feel guilt.
(Warning: Reading Les Miserable is a much greater investment of time than reading A Christmas Carol.)
Which is to say, women would either be greatly disappointed by Benbow’s un-electability because the imposition of a change in the way clocks were set would negatively impact their lives, or they would not care at all because a change in clock settings was a matter of no significance. I am guessing that Faulkner means the later but that, at least in the short term, women would be inconvenienced by this manipulation.
#1. Valjean fires Fantine for having an illegitimate daughter – a fact not related to her ability to perform work. This commits the economic sin of reducing efficiency. By participating in the system that uses arbitrary criteria for selecting employment, he perpetuates the existence of an underclass that cannot provide for themselves and family, no matter how hard working. He thus commits a sin of persecution.
#1 Second thoughts. The employer is merely expressing a preference. If he prefers lower productivity to employing a certain type of sinner, that is his business. Should this preference not be shared by the majority, he will find himself uncompetitive, and be replaced by those who are able to produce more at lower cost by employing female fornicators. We know that efficiency is therefore maximised, the value given to keeping the workplace free from sinners being greater than the value of the cheaper goods and greater profits that would otherwise have been produced.
Fantine is still free to pursue the opportunities open to her – namely selling body parts and prostitution, both avenues she takes of her own free will, so she has no cause for complaint. If society finds the presence of toothless, bald destitutes sufficiently unsettling, individuals are free to donate to charity, which they will do to the extent that is most efficient, providing just that amount of help that maximises the value of the outcomes.
So there is no sin, nor can there be. Only were the Government to become involved by dictating that unwed mothers could not be employed, or could not be fired for that reason, or to provide help for the destitute would there be a problem.