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Fairness Spillovers – The Case of Taxation

Author

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  • Thomas Cornelißen

    (University College, London)

  • Oliver Himmler

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn)

  • Tobias Koenig

    (Hannover University, Department of Economics)

Abstract

It is standardly assumed that individuals react to perceived unfairness or norm violations in precisely the same area or relationship where the original offense has occurred. However, grievances over being exposed to injustice may have even broader consequences and also spill over to other contexts, causing non-compliant behavior there. We present evidence that such 'fairness spillovers' can incur large economic costs: A belief that there is unfairness in taxation in the sense that the rich don't pay enough taxes is associated with a twenty percent higher level of paid absenteeism from work.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Cornelißen & Oliver Himmler & Tobias Koenig, 2012. "Fairness Spillovers – The Case of Taxation," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2012_17, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2012_17
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    Cited by:

    1. Schneck, Stefan, 2014. "My Wage is Unfair! Just a Feeling or Comparison with Peers?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 1(3), pages 245-273.
    2. Blaufus, Kay & Braune, Matthias & Hundsdoerfer, Jochen & Jacob, Martin, 2014. "Self-serving bias and tax morale," Discussion Papers 2014/18, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    3. Hamza Umer, 2018. "Fairness-Adjusted Laffer Curve: Strategy versus Direct Method," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2013. "Long-term absenteeism and moral hazard—Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 277-292.
    5. Hundsdoerfer, Jochen & Matthaei, Eva Kristina, 2020. "Gender discriminatory taxes, fairness perception, and labor supply," Discussion Papers 2020/6, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    6. Okudaira, Hiroko & Ohtake, Fumio & Kume, Koichi & Tsuru, Kotaro, 2013. "What does a temporary help service job offer? Empirical suggestions from a Japanese survey," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 37-68.
    7. Blaufus, Kay & Braune, Matthias & Hundsdoerfer, Jochen & Jacob, Martin, 2014. "Self-serving bias and tax morale," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 174, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    8. Blaufus, Kay & Braune, Matthias & Hundsdoerfer, Jochen & Jacob, Martin, 2015. "Self-serving bias and tax morale," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 91-93.
    9. Tai-Sen He, 2020. "The framing effect of tax–transfer systems," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 6(2), pages 213-225, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fairness; Beliefs; Taxation; Work Morale;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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