arbiter
JournalsAccount

The talent paradox: Why is it fair to reward talent but not luck?

Björn Bartling et al.

European Economic Review2026https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2026.105268article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

In a large-scale survey of the US population, we show that people are more accepting of inequality caused by talent than of inequality caused by luck, even after controlling for beliefs about the extent to which these factors are within individual control. We refer to this pattern as the “talent paradox.” In an experiment, we provide evidence that this paradox may arise because people view others as having ownership over the fruits of their talent if they have acted on it, even when the talent itself is beyond individual control. In contrast, varying whether the talent is determined by a personal or impersonal characteristic outside individual control has no effect on the acceptance of inequality. Our findings offer new evidence on the nature of people’s fairness views and shed light on political debates over the acceptability of inequality in society.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2026.105268

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{björn2026,
  title        = {{The talent paradox: Why is it fair to reward talent but not luck?}},
  author       = {Björn Bartling et al.},
  journal      = {European Economic Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2026.105268},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The talent paradox: Why is it fair to reward talent but not luck?

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.