Uncovering in-group bias in preferences for redistribution: a survey experiment in Italy

Author(s):  
maria marino
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Bublitz

Abstract Can imperfect information, as revealed in individual misperceptions about income distributions, explain the demand for redistribution? I conduct a representative survey experiment in Brazil, France, Germany, Russia, Spain and the USA, providing a personalized information treatment on income distribution to a randomly chosen subsample. Most respondents misperceive their own position in the income distribution. These biases differ notably by country and the true income position. Correcting misperceptions slightly shifts the demand towards less redistribution in Germany and Russia. This shift appears to be driven by respondents with a negative position bias. The lack of significant treatment effects in other countries may result from different individual reactions that cancel each other out. Thus, the existence of systematic misperceptions underscores their importance for understanding preferences for redistribution.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugur Yildirim

Americans’ distributional preferences are known to influence their political and voting behavior, but we do not know enough about the determinants of those preferences. How do perceptions of economic inequality and economic opportunity influence redistributive preferences? I answer this question using an innovative survey experiment that jointly manipulates perceptions of economic inequality and economic opportunity. The treatments are administered in the form of videos using a new ask-then-tell design, and the sample is gathered from a novel, high-quality source of online data. I find that receiving pessimistic information about inequality makes respondents more pessimistic about the state of inequality and more supportive of government involvement; on the other hand, the addition of pessimistic information about opportunity does not lead to any more concern for inequality or support for redistribution when pessimistic information about inequality is already present. Implications for future research are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-328
Author(s):  
Christopher Hoy ◽  
Franziska Mager

We test a key assumption underlying seminal theories about preferences for redistribution, which is that relatively poor people should be the most in favor of redistribution. We conduct a randomized survey experiment with over 30,000 participants across 10 countries, half of whom are informed of their position in the national income distribution. Contrary to prevailing wisdom, people who are told they are relatively poorer than they thought are less concerned about inequality and are not more supportive of redistribution. This finding is consistent with people using their own living standard as a “benchmark” for what they consider acceptable for others. (JEL D12, D31, H23, I31, I32)


2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110379
Author(s):  
David Weisstanner ◽  
Klaus Armingeon

An emerging consensus claims that ‘subjective’ (mis)perceptions of income inequality better explain redistributive preferences than actual ‘objective’ conditions. In this article, we critically re-assess this view. We compare perceived and actual income positions as predictors for preferences for redistribution. We argue that perceived income is partly endogenous to actual income and its effect on preferences conditional on ideology. Using an original survey experiment from Switzerland, we show that the predictive power of perceived income is lower compared to actual income. Perceived income is only associated with redistribution preferences among centre-right respondents, but not among left-wing respondents. Furthermore, providing respondents with corrective information about their true position in the income hierarchy has no effect on redistribution preferences. These findings go against the new consensus about the superior explanatory power of subjective perceptions of income inequality. We argue instead that absolute objective conditions should be at the centre of explaining redistributive preferences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maykel Verkuyten ◽  
Kumar Yogeeswaran

Abstract. Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document