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Unequal Opportunities and Distributive Justice

Author

Listed:
  • Gerald Eisenkopf

    (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany)

  • Urs Fischbacher

    (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany)

  • Franziska Föllmi-Heusi

    (Thurgau Institute of Economics at the University of Konstanz, Germany)

Abstract

We provide experimental evidence on how unequal access to performance enhancing education affects demand for redistribution. People earn money in a real effort experiment and can then decide how to distribute it among themselves and another subjects. We compare situations in which randomly chosen people get access to performance enhancing education with situations in which either only luck or only performance determines outcome. We find that unequal opportunities evoke a preference for redistribution that is comparable to the situation when luck alone determines the allocation. However, people with unequal access to education are more likely to disagree about the appropriate distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerald Eisenkopf & Urs Fischbacher & Franziska Föllmi-Heusi, 2011. "Unequal Opportunities and Distributive Justice," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2011-11, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    • Handle: RePEc:knz:dpteco:1111
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    Cited by:

    1. Brock, J Michelle, 2018. "Inequality of opportunity, governance and individual beliefs," CEPR Discussion Papers 12636, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Brock, J. Michelle, 2020. "Unfair inequality, governance and individual beliefs," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 658-687.
    3. Ankush Asri & Deepti Bhatia & Urs Fischbacher, 2022. "Caste and Unequal Access to Education: An Experimental Study," TWI Research Paper Series 127, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    4. Deffains, Bruno & Espinosa, Romain & Thöni, Christian, 2016. "Political self-serving bias and redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 67-74.
    5. Rodriguez-Lara, Ismael, 2016. "Equity and bargaining power in ultimatum games," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 144-165.
    6. Romain Espinosa & Bruno Deffains & Christian Thöni, 2020. "Debiasing preferences over redistribution: an experiment," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(4), pages 823-843, December.
    7. Reindl, Ilona & Tyran, Jean-Robert, 2021. "Equal opportunities for all? How income redistribution promotes support for economic inclusion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 390-407.
    8. Hansson, Kajsa & Persson, Emil & Davidai, Shai & Tinghög, Gustav, 2021. "Losing sense of fairness: How information about a level playing field reduces selfish behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 66-75.
    9. Bjorvatn, Kjetil & Coniglio, Nicola D., 2020. "Sharing and cooperation in an experiment with heterogeneous groups," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    10. Sophie Cêtre & Max Lobeck, 2023. "Principal’s distributive preferences and the incentivization of agents," Post-Print hal-04347515, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Distribution; Inequality of opportunities; Negotiation; Education; Experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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