Aligning Preferences for Redistribution of Right and Left Wing Voters by Correcting Their Beliefs about Inequality: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment in Australia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hoy ◽  
Russell Dean Toth
Keyword(s):  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Preferences For Redistribution

scholarly journals Redistributive preferences: Why actual income is ultimately more important than perceived income

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110379
Author(s):  
David Weisstanner ◽  
Klaus Armingeon
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Preferences For Redistribution ◽  
True Position ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Corrective Information

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.

scholarly journals Misperceptions of income distributions: cross-country evidence from a randomized survey experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Bublitz
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
Imperfect Information ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Significant Treatment ◽  
Income Distributions ◽  
Position Bias ◽  
Preferences For Redistribution ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Information Treatment

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.

scholarly journals Economic Crisis and Attitudes Towards Democracy: How Ideology Moderates Reactions to Economic Downturns

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Jurado ◽  
Rosa M. Navarrete
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Satisfaction With Democracy ◽  
Economic Downturns ◽  
Democratic Performance ◽  
Ideological Identity ◽  
The Impact

This paper studies the extent to which economic crises bust different reactions depending on individual ideological identity. Our argument is that individual left-right identification shapes how citizens evaluate the functioning of democracy, and consequently, it moderates the impact of economic crises on democratic discontent. We argue that left-wing individuals’ views on democratic performance would be more heavily affected by economic results and strongly shaped by the (in)capacity of a democracy to represent its citizens in its reaction to the economic crisis. After testing our argument with data from the ESS, we provide evidence from a survey experiment conducted in Spain. Both analyses show that economic crises are relevant in explaining democratic dissatisfaction, but the strength of their impact depends on ideological identities. Economic results have a stronger effect on the satisfaction with democracy of left-wing individuals by negatively affecting their perception of the functioning of democratic representation.

scholarly journals How do perceptions of inequality and opportunity affect preferences for redistribution?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugur Yildirim
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Economic Opportunity ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Online Data ◽  
Preferences For Redistribution ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
Perceptions Of Inequality

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.

scholarly journals Crises and social policy preferences: The impact of Covid-19 in Britain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Neundorf ◽  
Sergi Pardos-Prado
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Observational Research ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
Welfare Attitudes ◽  
Unemployment And Health ◽  
The Impact

Do crises substantially change public support for taxes and spending, and why? We leverage the multifaceted character of the Covid-19 pandemic to test different theoretical micro-mechanisms usually confounded in observational research, or tested in isolation. Our randomized survey experiment provides four main findings. First, the economic and health dimensions of the crisis generated a substantial left-wing turn among the British public. Second, the effects are stronger on spending priorities (unemployment and health policies) than on who should pay for the welfare bill (progressivity of income and wealth taxes). Third, economic self-interested motivations are not relevant mechanisms to explain our findings. Fourth, framings associated with open borders and the global spread of the virus polarized welfare attitudes along immigration policy preferences. The generalizability of our findings, the prospects of redistributive conflicts after Covid, and the validity of established theories of welfare preferences in times of crisis are discussed.

Why Are Relatively Poor People Not More Supportive of Redistribution? Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment across Ten Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-328
Author(s):  
Christopher Hoy ◽  
Franziska Mager
Keyword(s):  
Income Distribution ◽  
National Income ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Preferences For Redistribution

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)

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