[lloydsparkes]

I think this article misses a key point about fairness that seems to be ignored (I have not read the underlying paper, so perhaps its bad journalism)

In this scenario:

"In the first scenario, participants had to decide if they wanted to transfer two coins from person A (who already had four coins) to person B (who had one). Researchers note the “transfer would reduce inequality,” (as there’s less of a gap between them), but person B would end up one coin richer than person A, reversing their status."

"Just 45% accepted the redistribution when it changed the hierarchy."

They have focused on changing the hierarchy, and this is where fairness comes in.

Should people who have "wealth" be forced to a redistribution mechanism, where that person ends up poorer than everyone else? - Its one thing to redistribute for to reduce or eliminate inequality, its another to make them poorer than everyone else (even if the overall equality is reduced)

So I don't think its about maintaining the hierarchy, but a sense of fairness in the redistribution