Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/73545 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Working Papers in Economics and Statistics No. 2011-13
Publisher: 
University of Innsbruck, Research Platform Empirical and Experimental Economics (eeecon), Innsbruck
Abstract: 
Some people have a concern for a fair distribution of incomes while others do not. Does such a concern matter for majority voting on redistribution? Fairness preferences are relevant for redistribution outcomes only if fair-minded voters are pivotal. Pivotality, in turn, depends on the structure of income classes. We experimentally study voting on redistribution between two income classes and show that the effect of inequality aversion is asymmetric. Inequality aversion is more likely to matter if the rich are in majority. With a poor majority, we find that redistribution outcomes look as if all voters were exclusively motivated by self-interest.
Subjects: 
redistribution
self interest
inequality aversion
median voter
experiment
JEL: 
A13
C9
D72
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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