An email doing the rounds of the women’s networks found its way to me today. It’s link to an article about the late Sophie Elliott, fomerly of Otago University and the essay she wrote on equity and and equality.
Sophie may have been heading to Treasury the week she was murdered but when you read this article and the passionate introduction from her lecturers it seems clear she certainly wasn’t captured by the right when she was studying economics at Otago.
“We found Sophie’s essay stunningly to-the-point, thoughtful and mature. Jean-Yves Duclos, editor of the Journal of Economic Inequality, wrote…’It is a remarkable piece of research for such a young person. In just a few paragraphs, the paper is able to strike right to the core of welfare economics and to grasp with many of its complex and philosophical and ethical issues. Elliott certainly had a beautiful mind.’
In Sophie’s paper, the reader may find many questions to ponder. Should a policy be about the the people who deserve to be treated equally rather than those who are treated equally…..Does the propserity of one person negatively affect the fortunes of some others?…..Are market-generated outcomes necessarily unfair? If so, is the lack of compensations for this unfairness morally wrong?
We have both felt Sophie’s loss, in this awful calamity, very deeply indeed. We are proud to have been her teachers and we commend her inspirational essay to the readers of Oxonomics. There was something magical about Sophie Elliott – everybody who knew her felt it, and everybody who knew her loved here, all but for one person. Rest in peace Sophie.
What a tragic, tragic loss on so many levels.
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