Will Equity Evolve? - An Indirect Evolutionary Approach -

It has been claimed that people often prefer equity-like considerations and tend to ignore strategic aspects in fair division problems. Here, this is explored by analyzing whether or not such a behavioral disposition is evolutionarily stable. The answer, however, is ambiguous: Both, reacting to and neglecting strategic aspects can be evolutionarily stable strategies when power discrepancies are minor. Equity, in particular, is restricted to situations where structural asymmetries are subtle. ∗Max Planck Institute for Research into Economic Systems, Strategic Interaction Group, Kahlaische Str. 1, 07745 Jena, Germany †Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the EC, PO-Box 18 12 30, D-54263 Trier, Germany