Social Mobility and Redistributive Politics

S-Tier
Journal: Quarterly Journal of Economics
Year: 1995
Volume: 110
Issue: 3
Pages: 551-584

Score contribution per author:

8.043 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Just like economists, voters have conflicting views about redistributive taxation because they estimate its incentive costs differently. We model rational agents as trying to learn from their dynastic income mobility experience the relative importance of effort and predetermined factors in the generation of income inequality and therefore the magnitude of these incentive costs. In the long run, "left-wing dynasties" believing less in individual effort and voting for more redistribution coexist with "right-wing dynasties." This allows us to explain why individual mobility experience and not only current income matters for political attiitudes and how persistent differences in perceptions about social mobility can generate persistent differences in redistribution across countries.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:qjecon:v:110:y:1995:i:3:p:551-584.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29