Another way of interpreting the results: - 76.87% of subjects accepted a 25% tax rate intended for redistribution. - 44.80% of subjects accepted a 50% tax rat

Another way of interpreting the results: - 76.87% of subjects accepted a 25% tax rate intended for redistribution. - 44.80% of subjects accepted a 50% tax rate intended for redistribution. It's hard to infer much beyond that. Perhaps they need to test for a larger number or more fine-grained tax levels between 25% and 50% and see if there is indeed a step change (or other sharp decline) in acceptability when it "reverses social order". Or if there is a smooth distribution curve based on tax rate, not relative position. --- Even if you take the results as intended, that subjects were considering social order and not tax rate, you still have to concede that this could be about "fairness" and not "rank". It shouldn't be surprising that a majority of people dislike redistributing more than is necessary to achieve equality. That helps explain the results with the children. Ages 6-10 is about where they start to understand "fairness" from the perspective of both parties [1]. Additionally, taking the tax perspective into account, "Person B" appears to be subject to a lower tax rate than "Person A" despite ending up with more money, which subjects would likely see as unfair. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/how-fairness-develops-in-kids-around-the-world/416520/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/how-fair...