Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/31792 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
Jena Economic Research Papers No. 2009,008
Publisher: 
Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
Which inequalities among individuals are considered unjust? This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to study distributive choices dealing with arbitrarily unequal initial endowments. In a three-person distribution problem where subjects either know or do not know their endowments, we find impartial behavior to be a stable pattern. Subjects either compensate for initial inequalities fully or not at all in both conditions, and they do so more often when they do not know their endowment than when they know it. Moreover, the type and the size of the good to be distributed also affect the frequency of impartial behavior.
Subjects: 
Veil of ignorance
impartial behavior
distributive justice
procedural fairness
JEL: 
C72
C92
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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