Equality-efficiency Trade-off within French and German Couples – A Comparative Experimental Study

Hélène Couprie (), M. Beblo, D. Beninger and F. Cochard
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M. Beblo: THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CY - CY Cergy Paris Université
D. Beninger: THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CY - CY Cergy Paris Université
F. Cochard: THEMA - Théorie économique, modélisation et applications - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CY - CY Cergy Paris Université

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Abstract: We present the results of an experiment measuring social preferences within couples in a context where intra-household pay-off inequality can be reduced at the cost of diminishing household income. We measure social norms regarding this efficiency-equality trade-off by reported beliefs about the behavior of peers, and we implement a cross-country comparison between France and Germany. In particular, we show that German households are more income-inequality averse and thus less income-maximizing than French households. Decomposition reveals that diverging sample compositions in the two countries drive less than half of the difference, while over half of the initial French/German difference remains unexplained. Beliefs differ significantly from observed behavior in both countries. Income-maximizing choices are overestimated in the German sample and underestimated in the French.

Keywords: Intra-household allocation; Inequality aversion; Efficiency; Social norms; allocation intra-familiale; aversion aux inégalités; efficacité; normes sociales (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-12-31
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published in Annals of Economics and Statistics, 2015, pp.233-252. ⟨10.15609/annaeconstat2009.117-118.233⟩

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Working Paper: Equality-Efficiency Trade-off within French and German Couples – A Comparative Experimental Study (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02980029

DOI: 10.15609/annaeconstat2009.117-118.233

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