Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2021
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Equity Concerns Are Narrowly Framed

By: Christine L Exley and Judd B. Kessler
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:87
ShareBar

Abstract

Distributional decisions regularly involve multiple payoff components. In a series of experiments, we show that subjects frequently exhibit narrow equity concerns: individuals apply their fairness preferences narrowly, on a specific component of payoffs, rather than focusing on the broader payoff consequences of their choices. This behavior leads subjects to make different decisions depending on which component of payoffs we frame them to consider. We document narrow equity concerns in an exceedingly simple setting—in which payoff components are small tokens worth 1 cent and large tokens worth 2 cents—and in context-rich applications (e.g., relating to tax policy, worker compensation, and prosocial behavior). Across treatments, we also investigate when narrow equity concerns are more likely to reflect a preference for narrow equity rather than mistakes or cognitive limitations.

Keywords

Equity; Equality and Inequality; Fairness; Perception; Outcome or Result; Resource Allocation; Behavior

Citation

Exley, Christine L., and Judd B. Kessler. "Equity Concerns Are Narrowly Framed." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 18-040, November 2018. (Revised August 2021.)
  • SSRN
  • Read Now

About The Author

Christine L. Exley

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • February 2023
    • Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics

    Nonprofits in Good Times and Bad Times

    By: Christine L. Exley, Nils H. Lehr and Stephen J. Terry
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    When Do Individuals Give Up Agency? The Role of Decision Avoidance

    By: Holly Dykstra, Christine L. Exley and Muriel Niederle
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    The Gender Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluations

    By: Billur Aksoy, Christine L. Exley and Judd B. Kessler
More from the Authors
  • Nonprofits in Good Times and Bad Times By: Christine L. Exley, Nils H. Lehr and Stephen J. Terry
  • When Do Individuals Give Up Agency? The Role of Decision Avoidance By: Holly Dykstra, Christine L. Exley and Muriel Niederle
  • The Gender Minority Gaps in Confidence and Self-Evaluations By: Billur Aksoy, Christine L. Exley and Judd B. Kessler
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College