Fairness, Risk, and the Welfare State

The welfare state was designed to provide a safety net for all, regardless of background.

Yet a growing body of research indicates that though the majority of people reject inequalities that are the outcome of luck and circumstances, they are willing to accept income differences based on effort and choice. So what kind of welfare state do people support, and why?

 Led by David Rueda, this project aims to answer three questions: 

• Do people differ in their views of which welfare system they deem to be more fair?
• How do people react to different reasons for different levels of income, when choosing the welfare system they would prefer to live in?
• Are people willing to trade some of their own material well-being for a 'fairer' welfare system?

 The research will be supported by a two-stage online survey. In the first stage, subjects complete a real-effort task. In the second stage, they choose their preferred insurance system in a given situation.