(In-)equality of Opportunity, Fairness, and Distributional Preferences

Arbeitspapier

This paper examines how perceived importance of family background affect distributional pref-erences using two large-scale survey experiments. In the first experiment, we randomly inform respondents about the relationship between parental income and economic success later in life, which renders their perceptions of equality of opportunity more pessimistic. However, this changes neither revealed distributional preferences nor pro-social behavior toward the rich and poor. The second experiment shows that respondents do not account for parental influence on economic success when making (re-)distribution decisions, suggesting that people view parental influence as a legitimate reason to justify some inequality. This can explain why distributional preferences are immune to changes in perceptions of equality of opportunity.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 10001

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Field Experiments ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies ; Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes ; Public Goods
• Subject: distributional preferences ; inequality of opportunity ; social mobility ; survey experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Fehr, Dietmar ; Müller, Daniel ; Preuss, Marcel
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/267234
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET