Fair Shares and Selective Attention

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Amasino, Dianna R.; Pace, Davide D.; Van der Weele, Joel J.
• 署名单位: University of Amsterdam; Tilburg University; University of Munich; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Munich; Tinbergen Institute
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20220275
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: allocation; BIAS; preferences; fixations; reflects; SALIENCE; CHOICE; IDEALS; luck

摘要

Attitudes toward fairness and redistribution differ along socioeconomic lines. To understand their formation, we conduct a large-scale experiment on attention to merit and luck and the effect of attention on fairness decisions. Randomly advantaged subjects pay less attention to information about true merit and retain more economic surplus, and this effect persists in subsequent impartial decisions. Attention also has a causal role: encouraging subjects to look at merit reduces the effect of an advantaged position on allocations. This suggests that attention-based policy interventions may be effective in reducing polarized views on inequality.