WHAT'S FAIR? Exploring the Behavioral Science of Justice and Fairness.

• Author: Harward, Brian

Issues of fairness and justice are central to the work of all government officials, as their roles and power are granted by the will of their constituents and their work can either empower or limit the livelihood of those same people. Although many of the concepts addressed here apply to all public officials, this article focuses on the role of the finance officer because of their role as coordinator of the budget process and steward to financial resources.

GFOA's Code of Ethics identifies fairness as one of its five core values. Treating people fairly is one of the "Five Pillars" of GFOA's Financial Foundations Framework. However, concerns about fairness are multifaceted and complex as well as social and political. Our goal is to define what fairness is and find ways to achieve it, and we will investigate three primary forms that fairness can take. This is important because fairness, or "justice, ["justice" and "fairness" are used as synonyms in this article] can be applied to "individual actions, laws, and public policies. If something is deemed unjust, this is a strong, maybe even conclusive, reason to reject them." (1) Public officials and public servants need to always be thinking about perceptions of fairness, especially in the current climate. By better understanding the three forms of fairness, public servants can better design local government institutions and conduct themselves in ways that are seen as fair.

Before we get to the forms of fairness, we also need to acknowledge the impact of political polarization. Finance officers, like everyone in government, feel the increasing polarization of politics. (2) When we see that even views on the pandemic are driven mostly by partisanship, (3) it is only to be expected that local public issues have become more politicized. Questions of fairness have become more political, but not justbecause everything else has too. Questions of fairness tend to highlight differences in core values and preferred outcomes between people, and these issues will be addressed in future articles.

Fairness takes on many forms, and the concept of fairness can be applied to the ways in which people and organizations are judged. We even have different ideas about what it means for fairness to be achieved. Kees van den Bos, (4) a researcher on fairness, observed how it affects our interactions: "If other persons' behavior seems to be fair, then people react favorably and acquiesce to demands or requests of those persons with little consideration of material outcomes. However, if a person is judged to be unfair, then people react largely in terms of the immediate material costs and benefits associated with various courses of action."

Perceived fairness is not, therefore, determined only by how resources are distributed. We can better understand how fairness is perceived by subdividing into three categories: procedural, interactional, and distributive justice.

* Procedural justice refers to fair processes. This could refer to the public engagement or negotiation processes that happen as part of annual budgeting.

* Interactional justice is about human interactions and defined by fair treatment of the people involved. In particular, it concerns whether everyone was treated with respect and empathy.

* Distributive justice refers to the fair distribution of resources.

Let's examine each category in detail.

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE

Procedural justice is at the heart of the democratic system of...