Inequality Aversion , Efficiency , and Maximin Preferences in Simple Distribution Experiments
نویسندگان
چکیده
We present simple one-shot distribution experiments comparing the relative importance of efficiency, maximin preferences and inequality aversion, as well as the relative performance of the fairness theories by Bolton and Ockenfels (2000) and Fehr and Schmidt (1999). While the Fehr and Schmidt model performs better in a direct comparison, this appears to be due to being in line with maximin preferences. More importantly, we find that the influence of both efficiency and maximin preferences is stronger than that of inequality aversion. We discuss potential implications our results might have for the interpretation of other
منابع مشابه
Inequality Aversion, Efficiency, and Maximin Preferences in Simple Distribution Experiments: Comment
A major puzzle in the literature on social preferences is that a large majority of subjects behaves as if completely self-interested in some circumstances, such as in competitive experimental markets with standardized goods or in the final rounds of public goods experiments; while in other circumstances a large majority behaves as if strongly motivated by fairness concerns, e.g., in competitive...
متن کاملOther-regarding Preferences and Management Styles
We use a laboratory experiment to examine whether and to what extent other-regarding preferences (efficiency, inequality aversion and maximin concerns) of team managers influence their management style in choice under risk. We find that managers who prefer efficiency are more likely to exercise an autocratic management style by ignoring preferences of their team members. Equality concerns have ...
متن کاملSocial Preferences: Some Simple Tests and a New Model
Departures from pure self interest in economic experiments have recently inspired models of “social preferences”. We conduct experiments on simple two-person and three-person games with binary choices that test these theories more directly than the array of games conventionally considered. Our experiments show strong support for the prevalence of “quasimaximin” preferences: People sacrifice to ...
متن کاملOn Equilibrium Payments for Cooperation and Their Social Preferences∗
This paper considers the performance of a compensation mechanism that has received increasing attention in recent experimental literature. Our purpose is two-fold: (i) to characterize endogenous payments that can induce (mutual) cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma in the absence of social preferences; (ii) using models of quasi-maximin and inequality-aversion preferences to evaluate the possibili...
متن کاملThe Impact of Distributional Preferences on (Experimental) Markets for Expert Services
The Impact of Distributional Preferences on (Experimental) Markets for Expert Services Credence goods markets suffer from inefficiencies arising from informational asymmetries between expert sellers and customers. While standard theory predicts that inefficiencies disappear if customers can verify the quality received, verifiability fails to yield efficiency in experiments with endogenous price...
متن کامل