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AN EGALITARIAN SYSTEM BREEDS GENEROSITY: THE IMPACT OF REDISTRIBUTION PROCEDURES ON PRO‐SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Author(s) -
RIYANTO YOHANES E.,
ZHANG JIANLIN
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/ecin.12090
Subject(s) - generosity , redistribution (election) , meritocracy , subsidy , economics , labour economics , social benefits , affect (linguistics) , redistribution of income and wealth , microeconomics , inequality , public economics , psychology , market economy , quality (philosophy) , political science , law , public good , mathematical analysis , philosophy , mathematics , communication , epistemology , politics
In a meritocratic system, people are compensated on the basis of their individual ability, whereas in an egalitarian system people are equally compensated. Essentially, in the latter system high performers are taxed and subsidize underperformers. Would differences in income redistribution procedures affect people's pro‐social behavior? In experiments, we found that people are more generous toward strangers in an egalitarian treatment than in a meritocratic treatment. Interestingly, being taxed does not reduce the generosity of high performers, whereas being subsidized significantly increases the generosity of low performers . ( JEL C91 , D63 , D64)