Research Analyzes Behavior of Elite Americans Toward Wealth Distribution

A study appearing in Science Magazine analyzes how elite Americans display distinctive attitudes on questions concerning economic inequality.

The study by authors Daniel Markovits ’00, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School, along with Raymond Fisman (Boston University), Pamela Jakiela (University of Maryland), and Shachar Kariv (University of California, Berkeley), included students at Yale Law School, the University of California, Berkeley, and a sample group from the American Life Panel, an Internet survey of a diverse population of U.S. adults.

The study included experiments that varied the price of redistribution of donations, so that sometimes giving was expensive (inefficient) and sometimes giving was less costly (efficient).  

The study measured how subjects trade off efficiency against equality, and fairness against selfishness. The study also predicted the career choices of some Yale Law School students: equality-minded subjects were more likely to be employed at nonprofit organizations, over efficiency-minded subjects.

Read the article here.