Meritocracy meets cooperative behavior in redistribution decisions

The paper studies redistributive choices and tests the trade-off between a meritocratic ideal and the willingness to reward cooperation. We design an online experiment that collects information on real redistribution in favor of subjects that differ in relative performance and cooperative levels. Cooperative behavior plays a major role in making people “deserve” redistribution; furthermore, redistribution to reward cooperation is influenced by the subjects’ income. To quantify the weight of cooperative behavior in redistribution, we present a model and structurally estimate its parameters. We find that a percentage between 37% and 56% of total redistribution is driven by cooperation-related concerns.