Experimental Economist Bart Wilson on the Meaning of "Fair"

Politicians and pundits often use the word "fair" to describe policies they favor. But what does "fair" really mean?

Chapman University experimental economist Bart Wilson argues that fairness should not be construed as equality of outcome, but as a process in which everyone plays by the rules and honors agreements. When lawmakers obscure the definition of this word, it may result in policy that is ineffective, arbitrary, and fundamentally unfair.

Approximately 8:50. Interview by Zach Weissmueller and shot by Austin Bragg. Edited by Weissmueller.

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Bart Wilson
• Experimental Economist
• Experimental Economics
• ReasonTV
• Reason Magazine
• Language
• Linguistics
• Austrian Economics
• Zach Weissmueller
• Austin Bragg
• Nick Gillespie
• Fairness
• Fair
• Fair Public Policy

[zetsway5000]

Fair in the economic sense is a subjective term that should only be decided by employers and their employees. Government bureaucrats that have never run a business in their life have no right to define and legislate based on a subjective word.

[Mastikator]

This is very interesting.

[eswyatt]

I'm disappointed that evolutionary psychology was not considered in any of this. When one "irrationally" rejects an unfair distribution in the ultimatum game, he acts in the grip of an emotion that served humans well in our ancestral past, where we interacted in small groups, and a reputation for not allowing one's self to be being taken advantage of paid off in the long run. The willingness to submit to a more talented offeror also makes sense in the evolutionary context.

[RustyIronloins]

why is there a red dildo on his desk? ;)

[Darusdei]

no one to one translation? Wrong...

[arcanekrusader]

@kstipek I know : I was also making a joke :P

[kstipek]

@arcanekrusader I'm making a joke, it's an MMORPG with a free market.

[arcanekrusader]

@kstipek I don't know what eve is, but if it's anything like this guy adam i know then they are truly fucked.

[antoniocostaamaral]

the vid is good, but the music is not good at all, what happened??

[TracyII77]

@SrgGoofy The price point DOES NOT stay the same. If we all ad zeroes to the end of our dollar bills, the numbr of houses, steakd, and cinema tickets stay the same. And once again, who are you to determine what an employee needs? When I lived with my parents at the age of 19, I didn't need a large paycheck. I needed experience. My "Living Wage" at the time was $3.00/hour, when minimum wage was $4.25/hour. And what do you think a paycheck is? It is an employee's profit on their labor.

[chimphunter]

Setting minimum wages 'from the ground up'? Well, yeah, good luck.

[VLegacy]

@imre1000

Thank you for the link - I'm already fairly well versed in the theory/fact of minimum wage laws in specific and government intervention into the economy in general.