How economic success shapes redistribution: The role of self-serving beliefs, in-group bias and justice principles.

International audienceIn the face of economic inequalities, redistribution of wealth is a key debate forsociety, and understanding the reasons why individuals may support moreor less re-distribution can inform this debate. Here we investigate the mechanisms by whichexperiencing success in a task decreases the support for redistribution of the wealthgenerated by the task, such that overachievers favor less redistribution than under-achievers. In a laboratory experiment, we replicate this effect and explore how it thatmay be mediated by an in-group bias, or by changes in individuals’ principlesof redis-tributive justice. Critically, both in-group favoritism and self-serving adjustments ofjustice principles partially accounted for the effect of status on redistribution choices.Our study thus sheds new light on the various ways by which economic experienceaffects support for redistribution