Equality, Equity and Incentives: An Experiment

Loukas Dalafoutas, Martin Kocher, Louis Putterman and Matthias Sutter

No 2010-13, Working Papers from Brown University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We devise a new experimental game by nesting a voluntary contributions mechanism in a broader spectrum of incentive schemes. With it, we study tensions between egalitarianism, equity concerns, self-interest, and the need for incentives. In a 2x2 design, subjects either vote on or exogenously encounter incentive settings while assigned unequal incomes that are either task-determined or random. We find subjectsí voting to be mainly self-interested but also influenced by egalitarian and equity concerns, which sometimes cut in opposite directions. Contributions, which seem mainly determined by boundedly rational responses to incentives, are influenced by egalitarian, equity and strategic considerations.

Keywords: equality; efficiency; voluntary contribution mechanism; incentives; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-ltv and nep-mic
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Equality, equity and incentives: An experiment (2013)
Working Paper: Equality, Equity and Incentives: An Experiment (2013)
Working Paper: Equality, Equity and Incentives: An Experiment (2010)
Working Paper: Equality, Equity and Incentives: An Experiment (2010)
Working Paper: Equality, equity, and incentives: An experiment (2010)
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