 In the second fundamental comparison, the parties are offered a choice between justice as fairness and the principle of restricted utility. The principle of restricted utility is identical to Rawls’s two principles, except that the difference principle is replaced with a principle which says that the distribution of wealth and income should maximize average utility, constrained by a guaranteed minimum level of income for all. While the first comparison turned on the importance of the basic liberties, the second comparison contains Rawls’s formal argument for the difference principle.