TY  - UNPD
A1  - Andre, Peter
T1  - Shallow meritocracy
N2  - Meritocracies aspire to reward hard work and promise not to judge individuals by the circumstances into which they were born. However, circumstances often shape the choice to work hard. I show that people's merit judgments are "shallow" and insensitive to this effect. They hold others responsible for their choices, even if these choices have been shaped by unequal circumstances. In an experiment, US participants judge how much money workers deserve for the effort they exert. Unequal circumstances disadvantage some workers and discourage them from working hard. Nonetheless, participants reward the effort of disadvantaged and advantaged workers identically, regardless of the circumstances under which choices are made. For some participants, this reflects their fundamental view regarding fair rewards. For others, the neglect results from the uncertain counterfactual. They understand that circumstances shape choices but do not correct for this because the counterfactual—what would have happened under equal circumstances—remains uncertain.
T3  - SAFE working paper - 405 
KW  - Meritocracy
KW  - fairness
KW  - responsibility
KW  - attitudes towards inequality
KW  - redistribution
KW  - social preferences
KW  - inference
KW  - uncertainty
KW  - counterfactual thinking
Y1  - 2023
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/71530
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-715301
UR  - https://ssrn.com/abstract=3916303
N1  - I gratefully acknowledge research support from the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE. Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2126/1– 390838866. Funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through CRC TR 224 (Project A01) is gratefully acknowledged. Supported by the Reinhard-Selten Scholarship (German Association for Experimental Economic Research). Supported by the Joachim Herz Foundation.
PB  - SAFE
CY  - Frankfurt am Main
ER  -