Do rich people “deserve” to be rich? Charitable giving, internal attributions of wealth, and judgments of economic deservingness

People often judge how much “the rich” deserve to be rich by taking into consideration how they had made their wealth. How do people make such judgments about the origins of others' wealth? In nine studies (N = 1707) and two supplemental analyses (N = 197), we examine whether the attributions people make about wealth are influenced by the way wealthy people spend their money. We find that people are more likely to attribute economic success to...