Do you think it’s fair that some people are better off financially than others? Does it perhaps matter whether that earnings stems from a lottery win or from hard work? These are the kinds of questions that the economist Ingvild Almås of the University of Zurich is exploring. She wants to understand why people around the world are willing to accept inequality—and under what conditions they support redistribution, such as through higher taxes on the wealthy.
“Inequality is an important global issue. A key question is how inequality is morally justified in the society,” says Almås. Her recently published study, conducted in collaboration with Norwegian colleagues, shows that there are significant differences between countries in this regard. “People consider varying degrees of inequality to be acceptable and also have different justifications for doing so.”

Surveying almost the entire world
The study included a total of 65,000 people from sixty countries, covering eighty percent of the world’s population. For example, participants were asked to decide on what foundation real workers on an online labor market platform should receive a bonus—based on their performance or through a random lottery. The study also examined the extent to which people support the redistribution of wealth—for instance, through higher taxes on the wealthy or other policy measures.

Income earned through merit considered fair
The result: On average, the global population is more likely to accept an unequal distribution of wealth if it is based on work rather than pure chance. This view is particularly strong in Switzerland, for example. “We see a merit-based understanding of fairness primarily in countries with democratic political systems that are richer, more equal, and more individualistic,” says Almås. Nevertheless, the Swiss population is open to a certain degree of redistribution, particularly in cases where inequality is based on luck.

Greater acceptance of luck in Asia
However, not all countries share the view that prosperity achieved without one’s own effort is unfair; there are striking differences here: The researchers found a high level of acceptance of luck in non-Western countries such as China and India. The majority of the population in those countries was also opposed to redistributing prosperity gained by chance. Almås attributes this attitude to cultural and other factors: “We will in future work study to what extent these differences in redistributive preferences are associated with different religious beliefs”.

In addition to fairness considerations, there might be another reason to accept inequality—namely, that redistribution comes at a high cost to a country. For example, high earners may be believed to work less with redistributive taxes in place. However, the analysis found that this factor plays a much smaller role in the acceptance of inequality globally than do the source of the inequality, such as luck versus merit.

A new foundation for inequality research
The study illustrates that it is important to examine human behavior not only in the so-called WEIRD countries (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic). “The findings have revealed a significant contrast between Western and non-Western societies,” says Almås. The results help to understand how societies morally justify inequality—and how this, in turn, can influence attitudes toward redistribution. The dataset therefore provides a valuable foundation for future research in this field.

Literature
Ingvild Almås et al.: Fairness Across The World. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 7 September 2026. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjag044