The Economics of Fairness

A growing literature in economics has studied how fairness considerations shape human behavior. This review analyses the key theoretical and empirical contributions spanning the last four decades, along with influential related work in normative economics. It argues that the fairness motive is essential for understanding human behavior in a wide range of settings, such as markets, bargaining, and redistributive situations. It moves on to a discussion of the large heterogeneity in what peopl...