Does perceived unfairness affect charitable giving? Evidence from the dictator game

We use a modified version of the dictator game to study whether perceived unfairness affects giving. To earn money, dictators first had to take a test. Our treatment group had participants taking tests of different difficulty levels while the control group had all participants taking a test of the same difficulty level. We found that participants who were in an environment where everyone faced the same challenge to earn money were less generous than participants in an environment where some people had an advantage while others had a disadvantage.

Research highlights▶ We used a modified version of the dictator game. ▶ We studied whether perceived unfairness affects charitable giving. ▶ Participants in an environment with asymmetric opportunities gave more. ▶ This increase occurred whether or not the giver had a more difficult time earning money.