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Choice and Personal Responsibility: What Is a Morally Relevant Choice?

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  • Alexander W. Cappelen
  • Sebastian Fest
  • Erik O. Sorensen
  • Bertil Tungodden

Abstract

The principle that people should be held personally responsible for the consequences of their choices is a fundamental moral ideal in Western societies. We report from a large-scale experimental study of how far-reaching this principle is for inequality acceptance. We show that third-party spectators violate minimal conditions for a morally relevant choice when making redistributive decisions for two workers. They accept more inequality when the workers have made nominal and forced choices than when brute luck is the source of inequality. We argue that our findings shed light on important current political debates about personal responsibility and redistributive policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander W. Cappelen & Sebastian Fest & Erik O. Sorensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2022. "Choice and Personal Responsibility: What Is a Morally Relevant Choice?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1110-1119, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:104:y:2022:i:5:p:1110-1119
    DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01010
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    Cited by:

    1. Lu, Kelin, 2024. "Silver Spoons and Scales of Justice: The Fairness Preference over Unequal Intergenerational Wealth Transfers," MPRA Paper 121451, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Peter Andre, 2022. "Shallow Meritocracy," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2022_318v3, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Andre, Peter, 2023. "Shallow meritocracy," SAFE Working Paper Series 405, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    4. Lu, Kelin, 2024. "Silver Spoons and Scales of Justice: The Fairness Preference over Unequal Intergenerational Wealth Transfers," MPRA Paper 121232, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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