Intensity of the Sense of Fairness: Measurement and Behavioral Characterization

The analysis of the behavioral and social implications of the intensity of moral sentiments requires that these emotions be quantified. In this paper we quantify the intensity of the individual sense of fairness in the context of the model of Karni and Safra 2001, Econometrica, forthcoming]. That model depicts self-interest-seeking individuals endowed with an intrinsic sense of fairness, who must choose among alternative random allocation procedures to determine who, among a group of eligible individuals, will be given ownership of an indivisible good. For such individuals we develop measures of the intensity of their sense of fairness and explore their behavioral characterization. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D63, D64, D81.