Massimiliano Pozzi

Meta-Analysis of Distributional Preferences

With Salvatore Nunnari

The Economic Journal, forthcoming

Abstract Paper Replication package

We conduct a meta-analysis of distributional preferences, examining 297 estimates of sensitivity to inequality from 41 articles that structurally estimate the Fehr and Schmidt (1999) model. Our analysis indicates that individuals are inequality averse: mean sensitivities to disadvantageous and advantageous inequality are 0.533 and 0.326, respectively. We also uncover systematic heterogeneity: aversion to advantageous (disadvantageous) inequality is smaller (larger) in strategic environments. Finally, we examine 98 estimates of altruism and attitudes towards equity versus efficiency from 17 articles structurally estimating the Andreoni and Miller (2002) model. The representative individual displays Cobb–Douglas preferences with a weight of roughly one-third on others’ earnings.

The Right to Be Heard: An RCT on Economizing Procedural Justice

With Andreas Beerli, Lorenz Biberstein, Martin Killias, Michel Maréchal, and Nora Markwalder

Featured in: NZZ 2025 (German)

Abstract

The right to be heard – Audi Alteram Partem – is a fundamental principle underlying most legal systems and constitutes a basic human right. Legal scholars argue that the right to be heard is essential for the rule of law because it helps achieving truth and legitimizes judicial sentencing. On the other hand, hearings are labor and time intensive, leading to an overloaded criminal justice system, particularly for mass crimes. We evaluate the importance of hearings in the context of a large-scale reform of the Swiss Criminal Procedure Code, which delegated sentencing power from courts to the prosecutors through the means of penal orders. As a consequence of the reform, prosecutors sentence offenders by sending them a penal order that is solely based on police reports in roughly 90% of all criminal proceedings, de facto removing the defendants' right of being heard. We conducted a field experiment in collaboration with a public prosecution office in Switzerland and randomly invited defendants to participate in a prosecutorial hearing, allowing us to investigate the causal effect of hearings on prosecutorial sentencing, perceptions of procedural fairness, and recidivism.

The Dynamics of Moral Behavior