Making the paper: Ernst Fehr.

The article provides information on the experiment designed by economist Ernst Fehr and his colleagues which measures the 'other-regarding' preferences of children. Fehr and his colleagues enlisted the help of some pint-sized participants from playgroups, kindergartens and primary school classes. A child was asked to make an equal share of taking one packet of sweets for themselves and one for their partner. They found that young children between the ages three and eight develop a particular form of other-regarding behaviour called inequality aversion. Moreover, almost 90% of seven- and eight-year-old children prefer in giving sweets equally rather than give their partner extra.