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Fairness Across the World

Author

Listed:
  • Almås, Ingvild

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Cappelen, Alexander W.

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Sørensen, Erik Ø.

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Tungodden, Bertil

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

This paper provides global evidence on the nature of inequality acceptance, based on a large-scale experimental study with more than 65,000 individuals across 60 countries. We show that, across the world, the source of inequality matters substantially more for inequality acceptance than the cost of redistribution. However, fairness views vary significantly across countries, largely reflecting disagreement over whether inequality caused by luck is fair. The meritocratic fairness view is most prevalent in the Western world, but substantial support for the libertarian and egalitarian fairness views exists in many countries. Focusing on beliefs, we further show that, globally, people believe luck plays a greater role than merit in shaping inequality, while disagreement about the cost of redistribution is more pronounced. Finally, we establish that both fairness views and beliefs about the source of inequality are key to understanding policy attitudes and cross-country variation in government redistribution, whereas efficiency considerations play a less important role.

Suggested Citation

  • Almås, Ingvild & Cappelen, Alexander W. & Sørensen, Erik Ø. & Tungodden, Bertil, 2025. "Fairness Across the World," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 6/2025, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2025_006
    as

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    File URL: https://openaccess.nhh.no/nhh-xmlui/handle/11250/3184837
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander W. Cappelen & James Konow & Erik ?. S?rensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2013. "Just Luck: An Experimental Study of Risk-Taking and Fairness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(4), pages 1398-1413, June.
    2. Ingvild Almås & Alexander W. Cappelen & Bertil Tungodden, 2020. "Cutthroat Capitalism versus Cuddly Socialism: Are Americans More Meritocratic and Efficiency-Seeking than Scandinavians?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(5), pages 1753-1788.
    3. Benjamin Enke, 2019. "Kinship, Cooperation, and the Evolution of Moral Systems," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 953-1019.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inequality acceptance; fairness views; economic inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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