This paper reports on an experimental test of the acceptability of the Principle of Accountability. This is a principle of social justice, and states, “individuals should be rewarded for factors under their control […], but not for factors outside their control” (Cappelen and Tungodden (2009)). We specifically ask for acceptability of the principle underlying it, rather than for particular rewards in particular instances. We carry out the test with both an Internal and an External Dictator, conducting a laboratory experiment with a total of 240 subjects. We find that there is broad, but not overwhelming support for the Principle. When the Principle is internally inconsistent no clear preference emerges, which is not surprising.

本文报告了“问责制”原则的可接受性的实验测试。这是社会正义的原则，并指出：“应为个人控制下的因素提供奖励[…]，而不是不受他们控制的因素的奖励”（Cappelen和Tungodden（2009））。我们特别要求其基础原则的可接受性，而不是在特定情况下要求特定的奖励。我们使用内部和外部独裁者进行了测试，对总共240名受试者进行了实验室实验。我们发现，对该原则有广泛的支持，但不是压倒性的支持。当该原则在内部不一致时，就不会出现明确的偏好，这不足为奇。