Richer (and Holier) Than Thou? The Effect of Relative Income Improvements on Demand for Redistribution

A-Tier
Journal: Review of Economics and Statistics
Year: 2017
Volume: 99
Issue: 2
Pages: 201-212

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

We use a tailor-made survey on a Swedish sample to investigate how individuals' relative income affects their demand for redistribution. We first document that a majority misperceive their position in the income distribution and believe that they are poorer, relative to others, than they actually are. We then inform a subsample about their true relative income and find that individuals who are richer than they initially thought demand less redistribution. This result is driven by individuals with prior right-of-center political preferences who view taxes as distortive and believe that effort, rather than luck, drives individual economic success.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:tpr:restat:v:99:y:2017:i:2:p:201-212
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25