The Importance of Moral Reflection and Self-Reported Data in a Dictator Game with Production
26 Pages Posted: 11 Feb 2010
Date Written: January 9, 2008
Abstract
This paper studies how individual behavior is affected by moral reflection in a dictator game with production, and the informational value of self-reported data on fairness. We nd that making individuals reflect on fairness before they play the dictator game has a moderate effect on the weight attached to fairness in distributive choices, and a strong effect on what people consider fair. Furthermore, we find that self-reported data have substantial informational value, but still do not add explanatory power to a random utility model estimated on purely behavioral data. Finally, by studying the behavior of individuals who deviate from their self- reported fairness ideal, we do not find much support for the hypothesis that people are self-serving in their choice of fairness ideal.
Keywords: dictator game, distributive justice, experimental data, fairness, moral reflection, self-serving bias, survey data
JEL Classification: C91, D63
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation