Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP5368
Authors: Ernst Fehr; Michael Naef; Klaus M. Schmidt
Abstract: Engelmann and Strobel (AER 2004) question the relevance of inequity aversion in simple dictator game experiments claiming that a combination of a preference for efficiency and a Rawlsian motive for helping the least well-off is more important than inequity aversion. We show that these results are partly based on a strong subject pool effect. The participants of the E&S experiments were undergraduate students of economics and business administration who self-selected into their field of study (economics) and learned in the first semester that efficiency is desirable. We show that for non-economists the preference for efficiency is much less pronounced. We also find a non-negligible gender effect indicating that women are more egalitarian than men. However, perhaps surprisingly, the dominance of equality over efficiency is unrelated to political attitudes.
Keywords: inequity aversion; preferences for efficiency; social preferences
JEL Codes: C7; C91; C92; D63; D64
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Subject pool characteristics (C90) | Preference for efficiency vs. equality (D63) |
| Educational background (A29) | Social preferences (D71) |
| Gender (J16) | Social preferences (D71) |
| Political attitudes (D72) | Social preferences (D71) |