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Fairness, social norms and the cultural demand for redistribution

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  • Gilles Le Garrec

    (OFCE Sciences Po)

Abstract

When studying attitudes towards redistribution, surveys show that individuals do care about fairness. They also show that the cultural environment in which people grow up affects their preferences about redistribution. In this article we include these two components of the demand for redistribution in order to develop a mechanism for the cultural transmission of the concern for fairness. The preferences of the young are partially shaped through the observation and imitation of others’ choices. More specifically, observing during childhood how adults have collectively failed to implement fair redistributive policies lowers the concern during adulthood for fairness or the moral cost of not supporting fair taxation. Based on this mechanism, the model exhibits a multiplicity of history-dependent stationary states that may account for the huge and persistent differences in redistribution observed between Europe and the United States. It also explains why immigrants from countries with a preference for greater redistribution continue to support higher redistribution in their destination country.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Gilles Le Garrec, 2017. "Fairness, social norms and the cultural demand for redistribution," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2017-20, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:fce:doctra:1720
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    File URL: http://www.ofce.sciences-po.fr/pdf/dtravail/WP2017-20.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Alexander W Cappelen & Ranveig Falch & Zhongjing Huang & Bertil Tungodden, 2025. "Acceptance of Inequality Between Children: Large-Scale Experimental Evidence from China and Norway," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 135(667), pages 999-1020.
    3. Gubello, Michele, 2024. "Social trust and the support for universal basic income," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Gilles Le Garrec, 2023. "Accounting for the long-term stability of the welfare-state regimes in a model with distributive preferences and social norms," Working Papers hal-03954024, HAL.
    5. Sen Tian & Liangfo Zhao, 2024. "Tolerance for corruption and descriptive social norm: An experimental study of embezzlement," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-18, May.
    6. Gilles Le Garrec, 2023. "Accounting for the long-term stability of the welfare-state regimes in a model with distributive preferences and social norms," Sciences Po Economics Publications (main) hal-03954024, HAL.
    7. Zeng, Ziyan & Li, Yuhan & Feng, Minyu, 2022. "The spatial inheritance enhances cooperation in weak prisoner’s dilemmas with agents’ exponential lifespan," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 593(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles

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