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A critical note on the theory of inequity aversion

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  • Bergh, Andreas

Abstract

The impact of the paper "A Theory of Fairness, Competition and Cooperation" by Ernst Fehr and Klaus Schmidt (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1999), has been tremendous, and the theory of inequity aversion has been widely used in varying fields of economics. Here, the merits of inequity aversion as a theory of fairness and as an explanation of human behavior are critically examined. I argue that the theory has weak points in both areas. First, it provides no deeper understanding of why and when people exhibit other-regarding preferences. Second, the outcome-based nature of the theory ignores the fundamental role of procedures, both in the theoretical literature on fairness, and in experiments regarding actual human behavior. Finally, I suggest an alternative way of understanding the puzzling behavior of humans in economic experiments, based on the potentially conflicting norms of individual property rights and social sharing. Many modern theories of fairness essentially amount to promoting an efficient mix of these two norms.

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  • Bergh, Andreas, 2008. "A critical note on the theory of inequity aversion," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1789-1796, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:5:p:1789-1796
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    3. Marco Faillo & Matteo Rizzolli & Stephan Tontrup, 2016. "Thou shalt not steal (from hard-working people)An experiment on respect for property claims," Econometica Working Papers wp58, Econometica.
    4. Güth, Werner & Kliemt, Hartmut, 2010. "What ethics can learn from experimental economics -- If anything," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 302-310, September.
    5. A. B. Leoneti & G. A. Prataviera, 2020. "Entropy-Norm space for geometric selection of strict Nash equilibria in n-person games," Papers 2003.09225, arXiv.org.
    6. Leoneti, A.B. & Prataviera, G.A., 2020. "Entropy-norm space for geometric selection of strict Nash equilibria in n-person games," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 546(C).
    7. He, Haoran & Wu, Keyu, 2016. "Choice set, relative income, and inequity aversion: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 177-193.
    8. Barber IV, Benjamin S. & English, William, 2019. "The origin of wealth matters: Equity norms trump equality norms in the ultimatum game with earned endowments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 33-43.
    9. Chunliang Feng & Yi Luo & Ruolei Gu & Lucas S Broster & Xueyi Shen & Tengxiang Tian & Yue-Jia Luo & Frank Krueger, 2013. "The Flexible Fairness: Equality, Earned Entitlement, and Self-Interest," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-1, September.
    10. Ahrens, Steffen, 2012. "Inequality aversion and the long-run effectiveness of monetary policy: Bilateral versus group comparison," Kiel Working Papers 1802, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    11. Wei, Lin & Chen, Menghan & Du, Shaofu & Zhang, Baofeng, 2022. "By-state fairness in selling to the newsvendor," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Christine L. Exley & Judd B. Kessler, 2018. "Equity Concerns are Narrowly Framed," NBER Working Papers 25326, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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