Economic Justice and Fee Structures

Zera Yacob grounded human dignity in economic justice—the principle that wealth should not be extracted through exploitation or hidden mechanisms. Active investing's fee structure often embodies precisely what Yacob would critique: advisory fees, trading costs, and performance charges that disproportionately benefit professionals while eroding returns for ordinary investors. Index funds' lower cost structure aligns more closely with Yacob's vision of fair economic participation. However, Yacob's framework demands deeper analysis: even passive investing involves platform fees, custody costs, and indirect expenses. His principle of reason applied here means calculating the true cost of wealth extraction in any system and asking whether those costs serve justice or merely entrench existing power. Economic justice requires transparency about who benefits from each dollar invested and whether that arrangement respects human dignity.