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Behavioural economics: Preserving rank as a social norm

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Experiments show that people dislike inequality, but are they willing to overturn established hierarchies to achieve income equality? A cross-cultural experiment shows that from a young age humans exhibit rank reversal aversion when redistributing resources between the rich and the poor, suggesting that hierarchy preservation is a social norm.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Economics and the director of the Experimental and Behavioral Economics Laboratory, University of California at Santa Barbara, 2127 North Hall, Santa Barbara, 93106-9210, California, USA

    Gary Charness

  2. Research Professor and the director of the GATE-Lab, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 93 Chemin des Mouilles, Lyon, 69007, France

    Marie Claire Villeval

  3. member of the CORTEX Laboratory of Excellence, University of Lyon, 92 Rue Pasteur, Lyon, 69007, France

    Marie Claire Villeval

Authors
  1. Gary Charness
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  2. Marie Claire Villeval
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Correspondence to Gary Charness.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Charness, G., Villeval, M. Behavioural economics: Preserving rank as a social norm. Nat Hum Behav 1, 0137 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0137

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-017-0137

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