4 - As If Self-interested? The Correlates of Fairness Beliefs

Summary

Chapter 4 asks to what extent people, when seeking to do the fair thing, also end up doing the self-interested thing. This question raises the possibility that fairness reasoning and the fairness beliefs people hold can lead them to opinions that, on average, align with their economic interest. The evidence presented in this chapter suggests that the tension between fairness reasoning and material self-interest is most acute in the case reciprocity beliefs and support for redistribution to policies and less so for proportionality beliefs and support for redistribution from policies. Specifically, while proportionality beliefs correlate with someone’s earning potential and risk exposure, reciprocity beliefs do not. As a result, there is a large share of low-income individuals who find a decline in redistribution to fair despite being more likely to be adversely affected by it. Conversely, there is a large share of high-income individuals who find an increase in redistribution to fair despite being unlikely to benefit from it. One reason for the latter is the robust correlation between reciprocity beliefs, on the one hand, and liberal-authoritarian values, on the other.