Measuring tastes for equity and aggregate wealth behind the veil of ignorance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Heufer, Jan; Shachat, Jason; Xu, Yan
• 署名单位: Durham University; University of Groningen
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2025.06.005
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 209-232
• 关键词: Inequity aversion; revealed preference; risk preferences; social preferences; Veil of ignorance

摘要

We propose an instrument to measure individuals' social preferences regarding equity and efficiency behind a veil of ignorance while controlling for idiosyncratic risk preferences. We construct a battery of portfolio and wealth distribution choice problems sharing a common budget set. A given bundle induces the same distribution over an individual's wealth in both problems. The portfolio choice solely reflects an individual's risk attitude, providing a benchmark to evaluate whether their wealth distribution choice exhibits equity or efficiency preferring tastes. Our experiments show clusters of social preference types, which are unexpectedly independent of risk preferences.