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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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 |
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doaj-84dffe65e22d4d8b8c4f9d34c60bc8702021-10-02T08:54:37ZengUniversità degli Studi di Urbino Carlo BoInternational Journal of Economic Behavior2069-57562285-04302015-11-0151133148Is Equality Fair? Arthur TarasovThis 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 arehttp://ijeb.faa.ro/download/502_9%20_15-22_%20-%20Tarasov.pdfFairnessEqual outcomesReciprocal punishmentFair divisionSocial valuesEffort |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
English |
| format |
Article |
| sources |
DOAJ |
| author |
Arthur Tarasov |
| spellingShingle |
Arthur Tarasov Is Equality Fair? International Journal of Economic Behavior Fairness Equal outcomes Reciprocal punishment Fair division Social values Effort |
| author_facet |
Arthur Tarasov |
| author_sort |
Arthur Tarasov |
| title |
Is Equality Fair? |
| title_short |
Is Equality Fair? |
| title_full |
Is Equality Fair? |
| title_fullStr |
Is Equality Fair? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Is Equality Fair? |
| title_sort |
is equality fair? |
| publisher |
Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo |
| series |
International Journal of Economic Behavior |
| issn |
2069-5756 2285-0430 |
| publishDate |
2015-11-01 |
| description |
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 |
| topic |
Fairness Equal outcomes Reciprocal punishment Fair division Social values Effort |
| url |
http://ijeb.faa.ro/download/502_9%20_15-22_%20-%20Tarasov.pdf |
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AT arthurtarasov isequalityfair |
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