Distributive Justice Preferences and Cultural Factors in Romania

Abstract

The paper presents directions to investigate distributive justice preferences in Romania, at the national and regional level. Based on previous findings, it was hypothesized that belonging to one of the six major cultural–historical Romanian regions (Moldavia, Transylvania, Wallachia, Banat, Dobruja, Oltenia) may affect the preference for a fairness principle. The expectation is that people from Western Romania will prefer to a greater extent an equity-based allocation model, while people from Southern and Eastern parts of the country will prefer a distribution pattern with equality as a stronger predictor. A factorial survey designed to investigate distributive justice in Romania is presented and discussed.