Fairness and Accountability: Testing Models of Social Norms in Unequal

Martine Visser

No 116, SALDRU Working Papers from Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town

Abstract: We examine behavioural models involved in the provision of public goods when income inequality exists within groups. Our sample consists of individuals from urban and rural South African fishing communities. We find that behaviour observed in unequal groups does not accord with models of inequality aversion or egocentric altruism which require an equal distribution of final payoffs. On the other hand it is also not the case that individuals completely discount differences in initial allocations of wealth, as proposed by our absolute reciprocity model. Instead our empirical results lends support to a reciprocal model which requires that individuals contribute a proportional share of their initial endowments. Accordingly individuals are only partly held responsible for exogenous differences in initial wealth.

Keywords: Social Norms; Inequality Aversion; Altruism; Reciprocity; Public goods; National Income Dynamics Study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C9 D63 D64 H41 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-cbe, nep-ger and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ldr:wpaper:116

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