Luck or Rights? An Experiment on Preferences for Redistribution Following Inheritance of Opportunity

Warn Nuarpear Lekfuangfu (), Nattavudh Powdthavee and Yohanes Riyanto

No 15125, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We experimentally investigate whether people generally perceive inheritance as effort-induced or luck-induced. By randomly matched two strangers in a lab setting, we test whether the sources of opportunity handed down from the 'testator' subjects determines later redistributive decisions among the 'heir' subjects. On average, redistribution is highest among the heirs whose chance of winning is determined by the pure luck of the paired testator. In contrast, our subjects treat inherited opportunity generated by effort of someone else who they are artificially linked with as relatively fair. Our results suggest that people would feel entitled to bequests and inheritance unless the randomness of inheritance has been made salient to them.

Keywords: inequality of opportunity; experiment; redistribution; fairness; inheritance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D64 H2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2022-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-ltv and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2023,106, 102078

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Journal Article: Luck or rights? An experiment on preferences for redistribution following inheritance of opportunity (2023)
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