No effect of endowment risk on dictator giving in the lab

While various models of inequality aversion predict different effects of background risk on giving, empirical evidence remains mixed. This study presents a laboratory experiment using a modified dictator game to examine whether exposure to an additive, zero-mean background risk affecting endowments influences giving behavior. Our results show that such exposure does not significantly affect average donation amounts, the likelihood of giving nothing, or the tendency to split resources equally. These findings are consistent with ex ante inequality concerns under risk neutrality; however, overall, our experimental data do not support the behavioral predictions implied by purely ex post inequality aversion. • Additive background risk affecting only endowments has no impact on giving in the dictator game. • Results support ex ante fairness, not ex post fairness. • Dictators’ risk aversion predicts giving but does not interact with exposure to background risk.