American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Why Are Relatively Poor People Not More Supportive of Redistribution? Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment across Ten Countries
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 13,
no. 4, November 2021
(pp. 299–328)
Abstract
We test a key assumption underlying seminal theories about preferences for redistribution, which is that relatively poor people should be the most in favor of redistribution. We conduct a randomized survey experiment with over 30,000 participants across 10 countries, half of whom are informed of their position in the national income distribution. Contrary to prevailing wisdom, people who are told they are relatively poorer than they thought are less concerned about inequality and are not more supportive of redistribution. This finding is consistent with people using their own living standard as a "benchmark" for what they consider acceptable for others.Citation
Hoy, Christopher, and Franziska Mager. 2021. "Why Are Relatively Poor People Not More Supportive of Redistribution? Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment across Ten Countries." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13 (4): 299–328. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20190276Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- D31 Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
- H23 Taxation and Subsidies: Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
- I31 General Welfare; Well-Being
- I32 Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
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