131 - Section on Rationality and Society Invited Session (one-hour). Arbitrary Inequality? Rich-get-richer Effects and the Cumulation of Economic Disadvantage

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

Much of inequality research is aimed at identifying characteristics of people that really shouldn't affect their economic success, but do nonetheless. However, even very similar individuals often attain drastically different economic outcomes. One explanation is pre-existing variability along unobserved dimensions that is gradually revealed through differential achievement. Alternatively, positive feedback operating on arbitrary initial advantages may increasingly set apart winners from losers, producing an ever growing gap between the haves and the have-nots. This session focuses on state-of-the-art research in the rational choice tradition aimed at identifying social mechanisms that may generate such arbitrary inequality.

Sub Unit

• Section Invited

Session Organizer

• Arnout van de Rijt, State University of New York-Stony Brook

Presider

• Rembrand Michael Koning, Stanford University

Individual Presentations

• Testing Gould: How Status Ambiguity Causes Risk Taking. The Case of Formula 1 - Henning Piezunka, Stanford University; Matthew S. Bothner, University of Chicago

• Interaction-based Amplifiers and Asymmetric Distributions: Principles and Examples - Gianluca Manzo, University of Paris-Sorbonne; Delia Baldassarri, New York University