Silver spoons and scales of justice: The fairness preference over unequal intergenerational wealth transfers between Americans and Chinese

Abstract

Intergenerational transfers are widespread and markedly unequal. To examine fairness preferences toward inequality arising from wealth transfers by economically advantaged parents, we conducted a large-scale experiment with American and Chinese participants making distributive choices in identical settings. In our experiment, workers earned income either through merit or luck or transfers from parents whose earnings were similarly derived from merit or luck. Impartial spectators then made real distributive decisions. We find a pronounced aversion among Americans to inequalities from intergenerational transfers compared with those from self-earned wealth, whereas the Chinese exhibit only mild aversion. In addition, Americans accept more inequality when it is derived from inherited merit than inherited luck, a pattern not observed among Chinese. Additional experiments show that aversion toward unequal intergenerational transfers is not affected by whether parents actively transfer wealth. We also discuss other potential mechanisms underlying this aversion.