Dissecting Inequality-Averse Preferences

Marcelo Bergolo, Gabriel Burdín, Santiago Burone (), Mauricio De Rosa (), Matias Giaccobasso () and Martin Leites ()
Additional contact information
Santiago Burone: University of Antwerp
Mauricio De Rosa: Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Matias Giaccobasso: University of California, Los Angeles
Martin Leites: Universidad de la República, Uruguay

No 14828, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Although different approaches and methods have been used to measure inequality aversion, there remains no consensus about its drivers at the individual level. We conducted an experiment on a sample of more than 1800 first-year undergraduate economics and business students in Uruguay to understand why people are inequality averse. We elicited inequality aversion by asking participants to make a sequence of choices between hypothetical societies characterized by varying levels of average income and income inequality. In addition, we use randomized information treatments to prime participants into competing narratives regarding the sources of inequality in society. The main findings are that (1) the prevalence of inequality aversion is high: most participants' choices revealed inequality-averse preferences; (2) the extent of inequality aversion depends on the individual's position in the income distribution; (3) individuals are more likely to accept inequality when it comes from effort rather than luck regardless of their income position; (4) the effect of social mobility on inequality aversion is conditional on individual's income position: preferences for mobility reduces inequality aversion for individuals located at the bottom of the income distribution, where risk aversion cannot play any role.

Keywords: risk; questionnaire-experiments; redistribution; luck; effort; inequality aversion; fairness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C13 C91 D63 D64 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 108 pages
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-lam, nep-ltv and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - revised version published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2022, 200, 782-802

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Related works:
Working Paper: Dissecting Inequality-Averse Preferences (2020)
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