Income Misperception and Populism

Thilo Nils Hendrik Albers, Felix Kersting and Fabian Kosse
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Thilo Nils Hendrik Albers: HU Berlin
Felix Kersting: HU Berlin
Fabian Kosse: University of Würzburg

No 344, Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series from CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition

Abstract: We propose that false beliefs about the own current economic status are an important factor for explaining populist attitudes. Along with the subjects' receptiveness to right-wing populism, we elicit their perceived relative income positions in a representative survey of German households. We find that people with pessimistic beliefs about their income position are more attuned to populist statements. Key to understanding the misperception-populism relationship are strong gender differences in the mechanism: Misperception triggers income dissatisfaction for both men and women, but the former are much more likely to channel their discontent into affection for populist ideas.

Keywords: perception; income; populism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D72 D91 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-10-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pol
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