This paper presents detailed evidence about who compares to whom in terms of relative income. We rely on representative survey data on the importance of income comparisons vis-a-vis seven reference groups, allowing us to exploit within-subject heterogeneity. We explore the prevalence and...

Previous estimates of unfair inequality of opportunity (IOp) are only lower bounds because of the unobservability of the full set of endowed circumstances beyond the sphere of individual responsibility. In this paper, we suggest a new estimator based on a fixed effects panel model which...

Xu’s theorem comforts ranking the freedom of choice provided by budget sets as their volume in deriving it from three axioms. Yet, one and a half of these axioms can be discussed. In contrast, simple logic – it seems – leads one to order the freedom provided by budgets sets as the distance...