Assuming inequality averse subjects as modeled by Fehr and Schmidt (1999) or in the ERC model by Bolton and Ockenfels (2000) in ultimatum games with asymmetric conflict payoffs allows to make predictions especially concerning responder acceptance thresholds. These predictions are tested in a laboratory experiment eliciting proposer offers and respondent’s acceptance thresholds using the strateg...

This paper examines the implications, for overall social welfare and inequality comparisons, of using different definitions of the unit of analysis the income recipient in computing summary measures. Comparisons are made using the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS), a simulation model of the Australian direct tax and benefit system, of the effects of flattening the marginal ...

The main goal of this paper is to estimate the preferences of the Italian society towards equity in order to verify whether preferences i) have changed across the years, and ii) can be related to specific sociodemographic characteristics. Introducing equity concerns in the implementation of economic policies is a fundamental problem faced by both economists and policy makers. This paper uses a ...

This paper successfully decomposes risk attitude and social preference behind the veil of ignorance. Using a novel experiment wherein subjects move graphically along a slider to divide a pie of money between high and low reward in both lottery and VoI treatments, we are able to collect rich data sets at individual level. We check individual preference characteristics including consistency and h...

This paper examines the effect of income and wealth heterogeneity in the voluntary provision of a linear public good. We use models of inequality aversion and altruism to predict behavior in our setting. Our results are not consistent with these models, however; our experimental results suggest that less wealthy subjects give the same absolute amount (and more as a percentage of their income) a...

In-group favoritism in social dilemma situations is one of the main findings of studies in Social Identity Theory. We investigate what causes the in-group bias: is it due to mere group affiliation or, alternatively, is guilt-aversion a possible explanation? We induce group membership in a minimal group setting, observe in-/out-group transfers and elicit respective beliefs. We find that mere gro...

This paper discusses why, in a medical context, the standard assumption of a risk-neutral social planner is inappropriate and develops a framework for conducting cost-effectiveness (CE) analysis when social planners are risk-averse. This framework demonstrates that if new medical interventions are variance increasing (decreasing), the risk-neutral approach will approve (reject) projects that sh...

This paper examines how to satisfy “independence of the utilities of the dead” (Blackorby et al., 1995; Bommier and Zuber, 2008) in the class of “expected equally distributed equivalent” social orderings (Fleurbaey, 2010) and inquires into the possibility to keep some aversion to inequality in this context. It is shown that the social welfare function must either be utilitarian or take a specia...

I use data from the South African Social Giving Survey to investigate the role of social capital and motivations for giving to formal charities and beggars. Results suggest that both impure altruism and inequality aversion positively influence giving to formal charities but they have no influence on giving to beggars. The role of social capital is varied. Members of informal insurance groups ar...

Comparing Inequality Aversion across Countries When Labor Supply Responses Differ We analyze to which extent social inequality aversion differs across nations when controlling for actual country differences in labor supply responses. Towards this aim, we estimate labor supply elasticities at both extensive and intensive margins for 17 EU countries and the US. Using the same data, inequality ave...