本稿の目的は，様々な大きさの経済格差状況で好まれる再分配の特徴を明らかにすることである．匿名3者に対する2つの再分配施策（「全員に対して確実に小さな金額を再分配する一律配分」，「必ずしも全員に対して確実ではないが，大きな金額を再分配する傾斜配分」）から参加者がどちらを選択したか分析した．すると，初めの経済格差の程度は選択に有意な影響を与えなかった．また，参加者は傾斜配分の再分配される確率が大きく，一人あたりの再分配額が大きく，対象人数が小さくなるほど，傾斜配分を選択した．

Many studies suggest that the expansion of the child benefit (CB) policy increases child-rearing spending, as it offers mental accounting properties or a labeling effect. However, it remains unclear whether this increase in child-rearing expenditure is simply an income effect related to the CB expansion, or whether the preference for child-rearing expenditure changes relative to other goods at the same time as the income effect; that is, whether the slope of the indifference curve changes. This study examines the effects of Japan’s CB expansion on parental preferences for childcare and children’s education; we find that, on average, CB expansion increased parents’ priorities for childcare. A subsample analysis revealed that low-income households with children younger than 13 years preferred childcare more, while high-income households with children in elementary school (7–12 years old) preferred better child education instead of decreasing their childcare priorities. These results indicate that the impact of unexpected CB expansion on parents’ preferences for childcare and children’s education differs, depending on the child’s age and household income. The most important implication of this study is that, when expanding CB, governments should carefully choose target households in light of policy objectives and avoid widening the opportunity gap among households, considering the heterogeneous impacts of CB expansion on parents’ preferences for childcare and children’s education.