(Not) Everyone Can Be a Winner–The Role of Payoff Interdependence for Redistribution

Sebastian Schaube and Louis Strang ()
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Sebastian Schaube: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
Louis Strang: University of Cologne

No 160, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: Frequently, one person’s success comes at the expense of others. We contrast such zero-sum environments in which individuals’ payoffs are interdependent to those where payoffs are independent. In a laboratory experiment, we study whether the resulting inequality is perceived differently and how this affects redistribution. Across treatments, we compare a spectator’s redistribution of two workers’ earnings. If workers do not compete in a zero-sum setting, average redistribution decreases. In a representative survey, we replicate this finding and document that individuals who believe in a zero-sum world support higher levels of redistribution and are more likely to be Democrats.

Keywords: Redistribution; Fairness; Zero-sum; Social preferences; Lab experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D31 D63 H23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://www.econtribute.de/RePEc/ajk/ajkdps/ECONtribute_160_2022.pdf First version, 2022 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:160

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