Working Paper: NBER ID: w26555
Authors: Dietmar Fehr; Johanna Mollerstrom; Ricardo Perez-Truglia
Abstract: Although there is abundant evidence on individual preferences for policies that reduce national inequality, there is very little evidence on preferences for policies addressing global inequality. To investigate the latter, we conduct a two-year, face-to-face survey experiment on a representative sample of Germans. We measure how individuals form perceptions of their ranks in the national and global income distributions, and how those perceptions relate to their national and global policy preferences. We find that Germans systematically underestimate their true place in the world’s income distribution, but that correcting those misperceptions does not affect their support for policies related to global inequality.
Keywords: global inequality; redistribution; relative income; policy preferences
JEL Codes: C83; C91; D63; D83; D91; H23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| perceived global income rank (F61) | support for global redistribution (D39) |
| perceived relative income (D31) | policy preferences (D72) |
| perceived national income rank (D31) | demand for national redistribution (D39) |
| higher perceived national income rank (F40) | support for national redistribution (H77) |
| higher perceived national income rank (F40) | support for global redistribution (D39) |