2026/05/14 by Björn Bartling, Alexander W. Cappelen, Mathias Ekström +2 · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Game Theory and Voting Systems #Social Power and Status Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1162/rest.a.1788
openalex publication_date 2026/05/14 · openalex created_date 2026/05/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Abstract This paper investigates fairness perceptions of extreme income inequality generated in winner-take-all competitions. Two large-scale experiments with more than 7,000 participants from the general population of the U.S. show that extreme earnings inequality is widely accepted, even when the winner only slightly outperforms the runner-up. The effect of the winning margin on inequality acceptance is modest compared to the effect of shifting the source of inequality from luck to winning by the smallest possible margin. The experimental choices are systematically associated with broader fairness attitudes and policy preferences, including support for higher taxation of top earners and redistributive economic policy.