Do social preferences explain health inequality aversion?

Abstract Impartial-spectator experiments find strong average health inequality aversion with much variation that is unexplained. We examine whether social preferences over own and others’ health can partly explain this variation. We conduct an online experiment, with a UK general public sample (n=903), in which participants allocate resources to determine health of hypothetical individuals. Randomly induced equality-efficiency trade-offs identify participant-level inequality aversion that is estimated with a random behavioural model. We elicit social preferences from choices between own health and another’s health, both when the participant is health advantaged and disadvantaged. We find that social preferences do partly explain the substantial variation in estimated health inequality aversion. Compassion from a position of health advantage is most closely correlated with inequality aversion, which is also associated with unselfishness and the convexity of social preferences. Our value judgements on fair health distribution appear related to concerns about those less healthy than us.