Papers by Alexander Cappelen
It is a central political goal to secure disabled individuals the same opportunities as others to... more It is a central political goal to secure disabled individuals the same opportunities as others to pursue their conception of a good life. This goal reflects an ambition to combine an egalitarian and a liberal moral intuition. In this article, we analyse how disabled individuals who take part in economic activity should be compensated in order to respect these two
For what should individuals be held responsible? This is a fundamental question in much,of the co... more For what should individuals be held responsible? This is a fundamental question in much,of the contemporary,debate on distributive justice. Dif- ferent fairness ideals, such as strict egalitarianism, and different versions of equal opportunity ethics and libertarianism can be interpreted as giving dif- ferent answers,to this question. In order to study the prevalence of these fairness ideals in society, we
A liberal egalitarian theory of justice seeks to combine the values of equality, personal freedom... more A liberal egalitarian theory of justice seeks to combine the values of equality, personal freedom and personal responsibility. It is considered a much more promising position than strict egalitarianism, because it supposedly provides a fairness argument for inequalities reflecting differences in choice. However, we show that it is not possible to fulfil this ambition. Inequalities can only be justified on
We look at how one should reward eort,without rewarding tal- ent. One way to approach this issue ... more We look at how one should reward eort,without rewarding tal- ent. One way to approach this issue is to ask how an increase in one individual’s eort,should be allowed to aect,the post-tax income of others. The paper provides characterizations of three main classes of redistribution mechanisms,on the basis of how they answer this question.
The literature on international tax competition has shown how increased international mobility of... more The literature on international tax competition has shown how increased international mobility of the tax base may create a downward pressure on tax rates and give rise to increased inequality in disposable income. This paper endogenises the mobility of the tax base, explaining mobility as a function of the pretax income distribution.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
We analyse the optimal level of political decision making, national or regional. The benefit of p... more We analyse the optimal level of political decision making, national or regional. The benefit of policy making at the regional level is that it allows for policy differentiation, which serves the interests of regional majorities. The argument in favor of a national policy is that it may generate a more moderate policy, which protects the interests of re- gional minorities. Our paper analyses how the degree of geographical segregation and the degree of polarization of preferences affect the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 28, 2014
The present paper reports results from, to our knowledge, the first study designed to examine the... more The present paper reports results from, to our knowledge, the first study designed to examine the neuronal responses to income inequality in situations in which individuals have made different contributions in terms of work effort. We conducted an experiment that included a prescanning phase in which the participants earned money by working, and a neuronal scanning phase in which we examined how the brain responded when the participants evaluated different distributions of their earnings. We provide causal evidence for the relative contribution of work effort being crucial for understanding the hemodynamic response in the brain to inequality. We found a significant hemodynamic response in the striatum to deviations from the distribution of income that was proportional to work effort, but found no effect of deviations from the equal distribution of income. We also observed a striking correlation between the hemodynamic response in the striatum and the self-reported evaluation of the ...
American Economic Review, 2007
A core question in the contemporary debate on distributive justice is how the fair distribution o... more A core question in the contemporary debate on distributive justice is how the fair distribution of income is affected by differences in talent and effort. Important theories of distributive justice, such as strict egalitarianism, liberal egalitarianism and libertarianism, all give different answers to this question. This paper presents the results from a version of the dictator game where the distribution phase is preceded by a production phase. Each player's contribution is a result of an exogenously given talent and a chosen effort. We estimate simultaneously the prevalence of three main principles of distributive justice among the players as well as the distribution of weights they attach to fairness considerations.
Social Choice and Welfare, 2007
This paper shows how two important interregional transfer schemes, the foundation grant and the p... more This paper shows how two important interregional transfer schemes, the foundation grant and the power equalization grant, can be seen as two different interpretations of equal opportunity ethics. It provides characterizations of both transfer schemes by the use of basic liberal egalitarian principles. Both the foundation grant and the power equalization grant scheme make use of specific reference levels. The paper also shows how reasonable requirements on the transfer schemes restrict the set of possible reference levels.
Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2003
The fundamental moral intuition underlying equal opportunity ethics is that soci-ety should accep... more The fundamental moral intuition underlying equal opportunity ethics is that soci-ety should accept inequalities that arise from factors reflecting how people use their opportunities, but eliminate inequalities that are due to differences in their opportunity sets.1 What factors should be ...
Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2006
Liberal egalitarian theories of justice argue that inequalities arising from non-responsibility f... more Liberal egalitarian theories of justice argue that inequalities arising from non-responsibility factors should be eliminated, but that inequalities arising from responsibility factors should be accepted. The paper discusses how the fairness argument for redistribution within a liberal egalitarian framework is a¤ected by a relocation of the cut between responsibility and non-responsibility factors. The paper also discusses the claim that equalization of some non-responsibility factors will reduce the ideal level of redistribution.
Journal of Public Economics, 2003
Mainstream economic theory predicts that countries with large inequalities in pre-tax income dist... more Mainstream economic theory predicts that countries with large inequalities in pre-tax income distribution will be more redistributive than countries which are more equal in this respect. Empirical studies, however, offer no strong support for this theoretical prediction. In fact, a number of studies indicate that the opposite may be true, namely that countries which are more equal in terms of pre-tax income distribution are more redistributive than less egalitarian societies. The present paper offers an explanation to this puzzle. In a model of endogenous choice of location and endogenous aversion against inequality, we argue that large pre-tax differences in income may lead to a residential segregation of rich and poor. Such segregation may reduce the social attachment between groups in society, and reduce the willingness of the rich to make transfers to the poor. Conversely, societies with small pre-tax differences in income may be characterized by larger transfers and a less segregated population structure.
Journal of Public Economics, 2011
This paper shows one way of generalizing the standard framework of inequality measurement to allo... more This paper shows one way of generalizing the standard framework of inequality measurement to allow for a distinction between fair and unfair inequalities. We introduce the unfairness Lorenz curve and the unfairness Gini, which are generalizations of the ...
Health Policy, 2006
Objective: People make different choices about how to live their life and these choices have a si... more Objective: People make different choices about how to live their life and these choices have a significant effect on their health, the risks they face and their need for treatment in the future. The objective of this article is, drawing on normative political theory, to sketch an argument that assigns a limited but significant role to individual responsibility in the design of the health-care system. Method: In developing our argument, we proceed in five steps. First, we review the literature on criteria for priority setting. Second, we explore the most prominent contemporary tradition in normative theory, liberal egalitarian ethics, with the aim to clarify the role of responsibility for choice. In particular, we discuss where liberal egalitarian theories would draw the 'cut' between the responsibility of the state (which is extensive) and the responsibility of the individuals (which is limited but significant). In the third step, we identify a priority setting dilemma where the commonly advocated criteria would assign equal priority. Finally, we develop a simple model in order to examine the implications of introducing a well-defined notion of responsibility for choice in a priority-setting dilemma of this kind. Results: Liberal egalitarianism holds individuals responsible for choices that affect their health, given that (i) the illness is completely or partly a result of individual behaviour and choice; (ii) the illness is not life-threatening; (iii) the illness does not limit the use of political rights or the exercise of fundamental capabilities; and (iv) the cost of treatment is low relative to the income of the patients. The paper shows how this type of considerations can be used to determine an optimal level of co-payments for diseases even when individual choices cannot be observed directly. Conclusions: It is possible to assign a limited but significant role to individual responsibility in the rationing of health-care resources. The liberal egalitarian argument captures a concern that is not captured by traditional criteria for priorities in health care. It can thus help policy makers in situations where the cost-effectiveness of different alternatives and the severity of the illnesses are approximately the same, or if the society wants to assign some weight to responsibility for choice. It can easily be linked to a system of graduated co-payments, but need not be.
Forum for Development Studies, 2010
ABSTRACT Childhood vaccination is a powerful tool for reducing morbidity and premature deaths, an... more ABSTRACT Childhood vaccination is a powerful tool for reducing morbidity and premature deaths, and vaccines are usually provided for free. Despite this, several low‐ and middle‐income countries are lagging far behind in terms of their vaccination coverage. This article uses insights from behavioural economics to shed light on the mechanisms at work when people make decisions about childhood vaccination, thus explaining why demand for vaccination may be low. Some of the factors highlighted are the immediacy effect, loss aversion, overestimating and overweighting of small probabilities, and social preferences and trust. We conclude that these factors have important implications for how incentive mechanisms for vaccination should be designed, how vaccination decisions ought to be framed, who information campaigns should be conducted, as well as for the need to build trust in vaccine providers and health systems more generally.
FinanzArchiv, 2003
It is not straightforward to define the ethics of responsibility in cases where the consequences ... more It is not straightforward to define the ethics of responsibility in cases where the consequences of factors under our control are partly affected by factors outside our control. One way to approach this issue is to ask how an increase in one individual's effort should be allowed to affect the post-tax income of others. In this paper we show how different answers to this question can be used to characterize interesting redistributive mechanisms.
European Economic Review, 2010
What should individuals be held responsible for? This is a fundamental question in much of the co... more What should individuals be held responsible for? This is a fundamental question in much of the contemporary debate on distributive justice. Different fairness ideals, such as strict egalitarianism, and different versions of equal opportunity ethics and libertarianism give ...
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Papers by Alexander Cappelen