Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/266018 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 9983
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
Meritocratic beliefs are often invoked as justification of inequality. We provide evidence on how meritocratic beliefs are shaped by economic status and how they contribute to the moral justification of inequality. In a large-scale survey experiment in the US, we show that success causes a change in beliefs about success depending on effort rather than luck. Exploiting exogenous variation in meritocratic beliefs in a two-stage analysis shows that beliefs affect how much inequality people accept. Successful people prefer to remain ignorant about the true underlying reasons for success and there is no evidence that beliefs are moderated by political orientation.
Subjects: 
meritocratic beliefs
inequality acceptance
fairness
political views
survey experiment
JEL: 
D31
D63
C93
H23
H24
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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