Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/250630 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14969
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using new data from a three-wave panel survey administered in Germany between May 2020 and May 2021, this paper studies the impact of a negative shock affecting every strata of the population, such as the development of COVID-19, on preferences for redistribution. Exploiting the plausibly exogenous change in severity of the infection rate at the county level, we show that, contrary to some theoretical expectations, the worse the crisis, the lower the support for redistribution of our respondents. We provide further suggestive evidence that this is not driven by a decrease in inequality aversion, but this might be the result of a decrease in trust in the institutions who are in charge of redistributive policies.
Subjects: 
preference for redistribution
inequality aversion
COVID-19
JEL: 
D31
D63
D72
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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