On choosing a constitution (at least the part relating to the distribution of income)

Abstract

A constitution is a collection of principles or axioms determining how society should be organized and a description of the ordering of the axioms in terms of their importance and invocation. We report on an exploratory experiment aimed at discovering preferred axioms relating to the distribution of income within society. Unlike most previous experiments, we inquired directly into preferred axioms, rather than indirectly (done by asking subjects to choose between distributions). In addition to learning that the experimental design was, in principle, appropriate, we discovered that preferences expressed in this direct way appear to differ from preferences expressed indirectly. Interestingly, we also get an insight into the order in which people prefer principles to be implemented, thus suggesting something about relative importance.