Inequality-Seeking Punishment

13 Pages Posted: 15 May 2010

See all articles by Daniel Houser

Daniel Houser

Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science

Erte Xiao

Monash University

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Date Written: May 15, 2010

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 treated unfairly people who punish systematically prefer to create self-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.

Suggested Citation

Houser, Daniel and Xiao, Erte, Inequality-Seeking Punishment (May 15, 2010). GMU Working Paper in Economics No. 10-17, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1608246 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1608246

Daniel Houser (Contact Author)

Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science ( email )

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

Erte Xiao

Monash University ( email )

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Clayton, Victoria 3800
Australia

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