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Local Competition Amplifies the Corrosive Effects of Inequality
D B Krupp1,2, Thomas R Cook2,3,4
11 SALT Lab, Department of Psychology and Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen's University.
Psychological Science
|March 21, 2018
Summary
Inequality fuels conflict, wealth destruction, and risk-taking, especially when competition is local. The scale of competition significantly impacts how damaging inequality becomes, resolving inconsistencies in prior research.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Evolutionary Game Theory
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Inequality is often linked to conflict, but empirical evidence is inconsistent.
- The spatial scale of competition may explain these discrepancies.
- Understanding this relationship is crucial for social and economic stability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how inequality and the spatial scale of competition interact to influence conflict.
- To develop and test a mathematical model predicting conflict under varying inequality and competition scales.
- To reconcile inconsistent findings in the existing literature on inequality and conflict.
Main Methods:
- Developed a mathematical model of conflict evolution under inequality.
- Conducted an experimental game with 1,205 participants to test model predictions.
- Varied levels of inequality and the scale of competition (local vs. global) within the experiment.
Main Results:
- Inequality was found to increase conflict, reduce wealth, and promote risk-taking behavior.
- These effects were significantly amplified under conditions of local competition.
- The interaction between inequality and local competition led to the most pronounced negative outcomes.
Conclusions:
- Inequality's impact on conflict is contingent on the spatial scale of competition.
- Local competition exacerbates the negative consequences of inequality.
- Disagreements in the literature may stem from a mismatch between inequality measurement scale and conflict scale.
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