Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/169254 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
LIS Working Paper Series No. 694
Publisher: 
Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), Luxembourg
Abstract: 
This paper investigates whether the individual misperception of income distributions helps explain why, opposite to Meltzer and Richard (1981), higher initial inequality levels do not correlate positively with redistribution. I conduct a representative survey experiment in Brazil, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, and the United States, providing a personalized information treatment on the income distribution to a randomly chosen subsample. Most respondents misperceive their own position in the income distribution. These biases di_er by country and the true income position. Misperceptions of the median income relate negatively to misperceived income positions, showing evidence for biased reference points. Correcting misperceptions slightly shifts the demand towards less redistribution in Germany and Russia which appears to be driven by respondents with a negative position bias. Apart from Spain and the US, treatment reactions lead to a convergence of the demand for redistribution across countries. The treatment also alters trust levels in government and beliefs about the importance of luck but not equally across bias types.
Subjects: 
Income distribution
biased perceptions
inequality
survey experiment
JEL: 
D31
D63
H20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.42 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.