Giovanni Ponti (University of Alicante) on "Social Preferences over Utilities" (with G.W. Harrison and R. Miniaci)

We propose a model of social preferences defined over the utilities of individuals. This requires the
identification of “positive” and “normative” evaluations by individuals over the well-being of others. We design
a multi-stage experiment in which we elicit subjects’ risk and social preferences, together with their positive
and normative evaluations of the risk and distributional concerns of others. As for the risk dimension, our results
indicate that our subjects are risk averse, believe that others are less risk averse than them, and that others should
be more risk-averse than themselves. As for the social dimension, subjects exhibit spiteful preferences, believe
that other are less spiteful than them, and that others should hold altruistic motives.