Unequal chances: ex ante fairness and individual control

Unequal financial outcomes often originate from unequal chances. This study empirically investigates how uninvolved spectators perceive the ex ante fairness of unequal allocations of chances and how perceived individual control over the causes of unequal chances relates to fairness judgments. In an online survey, respondents evaluated the fairness of unequal chance allocations based on a broad set of real-world factors (effort, knowledge, benevolence, luck, ID, height, weight, nationality, gender, ethnicity, family income) and also rated individual control over these factors. Different sources generate different ex ante perceptions of fairness: chance inequalities based on socioeconomic and biological factors (gender, family income, ethnicity) are evaluated as unfair relative to those based on effort, knowledge, and benevolence. For most individuals, perceived control over a factor is positively correlated with fairness of unequal chances based on that factor. Luck is an exception: it ranks as high in fairness as effort, knowledge, and benevolence, yet similarly low in control as ethnicity, family income, and gender.