Justice and Fairness
Karl Schurter
Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science
Fairness is not Just
Fair derived from “fair play”
 Different connotations
 “Das ist nicht fair”
 Fair implies equity

 Equal
opportunity
 Equal reward
The Philosophy of Justice
Retributive vs. Distributive
 Just desert
 How do we calculate desert?
 Veil of ignorance

Judging an Application
Reason does not deliver justice
 Criteria for desert
 Weight
 Achievement or potential

Assumptions of the Veil of Ignorance
There is only one just outcome
 Desert is calculable
 Not applicable to real problems
 Can be simulated in the laboratory

Procedural Justice
Clearly defined rules
 Informed consent
 Symmetric information
 Equal opportunity

Hypotheses
Justice and fairness are different
motivational factors
 They have different impacts on economic
decision-making

Experimental Design

Dictator Game
 Two
players: A and B
 Endowment given the pair
 Player A must unilaterally allocate the money

Informed consent
Property Rights
Player A has property rights
 Method of entitlement affects allocation
distribution

 Random
 Quiz
 Specialized
quiz
Treatments
Random (Control)
 George Mason trivia quiz
 Seniority
 Die Roll

Random (Control)
Computer pairs players
 Game starts immediately

George Mason Trivia Quiz
Quiz begins
 Quizzes are scored and ranked
 Top player is made a player A

 Paired

with last
Tie goes to the player who finished first
George Mason Trivia Quiz (Cont’d)
Confounds justice and fairness
 Implications in other experimental
research

 Inequity
 Altruism
aversion
Die Roll
Emphasize fair procedure
 Players choose even or odd after
instructions
 Whoever guessed correctly is Player A

Seniority
Emphasize justice
 Ranked by credit hours
 Draws on other campus privileges
(housing, parking, course selection, etc.)

Expected Results
No formal theory prediction
 Random treatment will include larger gifts
 Impact of justice and fairness varies
across cultures
