Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Discussion Paper Series in Economics,
Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

No 9/2014: Fairness is intuitive.

Alexander W. Cappelen (), Ulrik H. Nielsen (), Bertil Tungodden (), Jean-Robert Tyran () and Erik Wengström ()
Additional contact information
Alexander W. Cappelen: Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Postal: NHH , Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway
Ulrik H. Nielsen: University of Copenhagen, Postal: Øster Farimagsgade 5, building 26, DK-1353 København K,, Denmark.
Bertil Tungodden: Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Postal: NHH , Department of Economics, Helleveien 30, N-5045 Bergen, Norway
Jean-Robert Tyran: Department of Economics, University of Vienna, Postal: Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1, A-1090 Vienna,, Austria.
Erik Wengström: Lund University, Postal: P.O. Box 7082, S-220 07 Lund, Sweden

Abstract: In this paper we provide new evidence showing that fair behavior is intuitive to most people. We nd a strong association between a short response time and fair behavior in the dictator game. This association is robust to controls that take account of the fact that response time might be a ected by the decision-maker's cognitive ability and swiftness. The experiment was conducted with a large and heterogeneous sample recruited from the general population in Denmark. We find a striking similarity in the association between response time and fair behavior across groups in the society, which suggests that the predisposition to act fairly is a general human trait.

Keywords: Response Time; Dictator Game; Experiment; Fairness

JEL-codes: C90; D03; D60

16 pages, April 2, 2014

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SAM0914.pdf PDF-file 

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