Is Equality Fair?
This paper attempts to answer the question whether people consider decisions that lead to equal outcomes fair. I find that this is not always the case. In an experiment where subjects are given equal opportunities to choose how to divide money between each other in a two-player game, any strategy is...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo
2015-11-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Economic Behavior |
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| Online Access: | http://ijeb.faa.ro/download/502_9%20_15-22_%20-%20Tarasov.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper attempts to answer the question whether people consider decisions that lead to equal outcomes fair. I find that this is not always the case. In an experiment where subjects are given equal opportunities to choose how to divide money between each other in a two-player game, any strategy is perceived to be fair more than half the time, including the profit-maximizing strategy. The equal divisions that lead to equal outcomes are sometimes considered unfair by both players. Moreover, players frequently punished the others, whose decisions led to equal outcomes. I hypothesize that such punishments occur because people have different conceptions of what a fair outcome and fair punishment are |
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| ISSN: | 2069-5756 2285-0430 |