Fairness, Risk and the Welfare State

• In Event: Experiments in Inequality, Fairness, and Redistribution

Abstract

A growing literature shows that support for redistribution relates to considerations of fairness. Most people are willing to accept income differences that are based on effort and choice, but reject inequalities that are the outcome of luck and circumstances. Welfare states incorporate different understandings of fairness and that is reflected in the provision of social insurance. Some welfare states follow an egalitarian fairness principle and hand out equal benefits to everyone in need, while others build on a meritocratic principle and stabilize given income differences over time. This project studies how the interplay between fairness and the nature of the welfare state influences redistribution preferences and political behavior. We use interactive online experiments to investigate the trade-offs that people make between their own material well-being and fairness considerations when forming preferences for redistribution under different welfare regimes.

Authors

• Verena Rebecca Fetscher, University of Hamburg

• David Rueda, University of Oxford