Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Hideaki Goto
Author-Name-First: Hideaki
Author-Name-Last: Goto
Author-Email: h-goto@iuj.ac.jp
Author-Workplace-Name: IUJ Research Institute, International University of Japan
Title: Belief in Egalitarianism and Meritocracy
Abstract: Why do people often distribute joint surplus in an egalitarian way even when the payoffs for more productive people are lower than those distributed in a meritocratic way? In particular, does a stationary state exist in which more productive people believe in egalitarianism even when distaste for meritocracy decreases as meritocratic payoffs increase? We extend the Bisin–Verdier model of cultural transmission to address these questions and demonstrate that such a stationary state exists, but is stable only under certain conditions. Therefore, the fractions of people believing in egalitarianism and meritocracy may continue to fluctuate.
Classification-JEL: D30, Z13, D63, D91
Length: 14 pages
Creation-Date: 2022-08
Number: EMS_2022_05
File-URL: https://www.iuj.ac.jp/workingpapers/index.cfm?File=EMS_2022_05.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version, 2022
File-Size: 239KB
Keywords: Belief in distributive principles; Egalitarianism; Meritocracy; Cultural transmission
Handle: RePEc:iuj:wpaper:EMS_2022_05