Knowledge, power, and self-interest

Bernhard Kittel, Georg Kanitsar and Stefan Traub

Journal of Public Economics, 2017, vol. 150, issue C, 39-52

Abstract: The paperreports the results of a laboratory experiment assessing the impact of social position (endowment) and power (structurally advantaged or disadvantaged network positions) on redistributive decisions, which involve a classical efficiency-equality trade-off. The experiment involves three decision conditions: veil of ignorance, informed dictator, and majority vote. We use a three-person social-preference model in order to derive hypotheses on the effect of knowledge and power on tax choices. Our results confirm that disclosing the social position raises the measured self-interest (Knowledge Effect) and that mandating a majority vote results in concessions, the size of which depends on the player's structural position in the network (Power Effect).

Keywords: Redistribution; Power; Self-interest; Inequality; Network; Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D63 D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:150:y:2017:i:c:p:39-52

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.04.004

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