 Left-libertarianism seems to hold more promise of justifying something like a social minimum than conventional libertarianism. To be sure, a left-libertarian regime will not permit the redistribution of labor incomes by the state as this violates the core libertarian commitment to respect the rights of self-ownership. But the parallel commitment to equal division of initially unowned external resources will ensure that every person starts life with at least some external resources, or a monetary equivalent. To see how this may transform the prospects of those on low incomes, it may help to go back for a moment to the people whom we just imagined being transported to a new planet. On arrival, the people find that on the planet there is a single external resource, uncultivated land, all units of which are of homogeneous quality. Their own population is divided into two groups, a majority who are able to work the land and a minority that are much less able to do this (here we follow Cohen 1995: chapter 4). Now we saw in our discussion of libertarianism above how, under a Nozick-style regime, members of the minority might well have no justice-based claim to assistance against the majority, and, in consequence, could starve. Under a left-libertarian regime, however, the government is obliged to give each person an equal share of the planet’s land. Those unable to work well will be able to sell or lease their share to members of the majority group, and can thereby derive an income from this source. They will thus be at least somewhat better off than under the Nozick-style regime.