Abstract:
Inequality influences socioeconomic and political outcomes. Beyond objective metrics, how people perceive inequality plays a crucial role. Yet attitudes and perceptions of inequality remain understudied, especially outside western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic settings. This article speaks to this gap, providing insights from Viet Nam, a lower-middle income country with rising inequality. In so doing it considers the unique historical institutional divergence of Viet Nam's northern and southern regions and sheds light on how the legacies of institutions, both formal and informal, influence perceptions and preferences. The analysis draws on new data from a novel survey and lab-in-the-field experiment with over 1,600 respondents from Hà Nam in the north and Trà Vinh in the south. The results suggest that there are indeed differences in inequality perceptions in line with historical institutional legacies, even if subtle.