One feature of legislative bargaining in naturally occurring settings is that the distribution of seats or voting weights often does not accurately reflect bargaining power. Game-theoretic predictions about payoffs and coalition formation are insensitive to nominal differences in vote...

We introduce a three-person redistribution game with preplay communication. Three focal points of the game are derived from different equity standards and Rawls' difference principle. An experimental test confirms our hypothesis that equity in terms of effort-proportionality is not pursued at...

Debating over efficiency-enhancing but inequality-increasing reforms accounts for the routine business of democratic institutions. Fernandez and Rodrik (1991) hold that anti-reform bias can be attributed to individual-specific uncertainty regarding the distribution of gains and losses resulting...