Behavioral economics has traditionally explored pro-social attitudes from the perspective of stakeholders, who have a direct interest in outcomes, and of spectators, who make decisions about inequality from an external perspective. However, people often don’t find themselves in either stance. Consumers informed about the inequality associated with each product are neither as involved as stakeholders nor as powerful as the spectators in typical studies – they are (potential) subscribers. But they may exhibit attitudes towards inequality, through their willingness to pay a premium for goods associated with reduced inequality.

The WIASS project will provide a comprehensive, empirically grounded understanding of inequality attitudes and their drivers across the three stances, building a common model that can situate different types of agents. It will marshal the promise of the subscriber stance, taking the study of inequality attitudes to real-world settings.

To achieve the first objective, the project will conduct large-scale, cross-country incentivized survey experiments guided by prior model development, using cutting-edge techniques to elicit inequality attitudes and perception in the three stances. For the second objective, a randomized controlled trial will investigate the behavior of consumers when informed about the inequality involved in the production of each good. The findings will have substantial policy implications, offering insights relevant to the design and invention of successful and acceptable inequality policies.

Further information