Inequality-Seeking Punishment

11 Pages Posted: 8 Aug 2009

See all articles by Daniel Houser

Daniel Houser

Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science

Erte Xiao

Monash University

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 8, 2009

Abstract

Inequality aversion is a key motive for punishment, with many prominent studies suggesting people use punishment to reduce or eliminate inequality. Punishment in laboratory games, however, is nearly always designed to promote equality (e.g., rejections in standard ultimatum games) and the marginal cost of punishment is typically non-trivially positive. As a consequence, individual preferences over punishment outcomes remain largely uninformed. We here report data from a laboratory experiment using dictator games. We find that when people are treated unfairly they systematically prefer to use punishment to create advantageous inequality. Our results shed new light on human preferences over punishment outcomes, and have important implications for the design of mechanisms to deter misconduct.

Keywords: inequality aversion, punishment, dictator games, experimetnal economics

JEL Classification: C91, D63

Suggested Citation

Houser, Daniel and Xiao, Erte, Inequality-Seeking Punishment (August 8, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1446083 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1446083

Daniel Houser

Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science ( email )

5th Floor, Vernon Smith Hall
George Mason University
Arlington, VA 22201
United States
7039934856 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://mason.gmu.edu/~dhouser/

Erte Xiao (Contact Author)

Monash University ( email )

23 Innovation Walk
Wellington Road
Clayton, Victoria 3800
Australia

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