New research project on fairness and the welfare state to Cappelen and Tungodden
How do fairness considerations affect the support and effectiveness of welfare policies? This is the key question in this new research project that has just received 1.499.000 € in funding from NORFACE.
12.11.2014 - Astri Kamsvåg
The cross-disciplinary project includes international capacities in economics, political science, psychology, and ethics from Norway, the Netherlands and Austria.
"Fairness, personal responsibility and the welfare state"
The aim of the research project "Fairness, personal responsibility and the welfare state" is to analyze how fairness considerations, in particular with respect to personal responsibility, affect the support and effectiveness of welfare policies. The research project has three main parts:
Part A of the research project studies when individuals are held responsible for outcomes and the link between views about personal responsibility and the support for redistributive welfare policies.
Part B of the research project studies people's preferences in situations where it is impossible to implement the welfare policies that are seen as most fair.
In Part C of the research project the researchers study what they refer to as reference-dependent social preferences and examine whether such preferences might shed light on cross-country differences in the support for welfare schemes.
Taken together, the three parts of this research project represent a unique research agenda addressing questions that are of fundamental importance for understanding the challenges faced by the European welfare states.
Four research teams from three countries; Austria, Norway and the Netherlands, will take a cross-disciplinary perspective on fairness and use an innovative combination of methods, including lab and field experiments, survey studies and collection of administrative data.
The main applicant, Alexander W. Cappelen, is the director of The Choice Lab at the Norwegian School of Economics. Cappelen has extensive experience managing large research programs with international collaborators. The infrastructure at The Choice Lab will provide the basic support for the research project.
Key team members
- Professors Alexander Cappelen and Bertil Tungodden, Norwegian School of Economics, Norway
- Professor Jean-Robert Tyran, University of Vienna, Austria
- Associate Professor Sigrid Suetens, Tilburg University, the Netherlands
- Professor Stein Kuhnle, University of Bergen, Norway
In total 11 researchers will be contributing to the project.
Collaborating partners
- Norwegian School of Economics
- Tilburg University
- University of Vienna
- Norwegian tax administration
Duration: 3 years
Start: January 2015
Budget: 1.499.000 Euro
The call: NORFACE's Welfare State Futures Programme
Welfare states are at a critical turning point. The development of welfare systems was one of the defining characteristics of the 20th century, especially in Europe. However, in times of change, it will be important to re-think "the welfare state" with a programme of innovative research designed to ask, and answer, fundamental questions about the design, delivery and experience of welfare in the 21st century.
NORFACE
The NORFACE network (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Cooperation in Europe) coordinate common action of sixteen national research funding agencies. NORFACE offer unique opportunities for participating funding agencies by developing common research funding instruments, thus creating opportunities for facilitating and building new networks of research collaboration in the social sciences.
Go to The Choice Lab
Go to NORFACE
Alexander Cappelen, Bertil Tungodden, Stein Kuhnle, Jean-Robert Tyran and Sigrid Suetens.
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