Income inequality is unrelated to perceived inequality and support for redistribution

Kris‐Stella Trump

Social Science Quarterly, 2023, vol. 104, issue 2, 180-188

Abstract: Objectives This study aims to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between income inequality, perceptions of income inequality, and support for redistribution. In particular, it asks whether income inequality affects support for redistribution by influencing perceptions of inequality. Methods This study combines the pay ratio measures from the International Social Survey Project with income inequality measures from the Standardized World Income Inequality Database. The analysis proceeds in three steps, asking whether (1) inequality is related to perceived inequality, (2) perceived inequality is related to preferences for inequality, and (3) perceived inequality is related to support for redistribution. Results Income inequality is unrelated to perceptions of inequality. Perceptions of inequality strongly predict preferred inequality, reinforcing the prior conclusion that anchoring effects likely cause this close relationship. Perceptions of inequality also predict support for redistribution. However, because actual inequality is unrelated to perceived inequality, there is no link between actual inequality and either preferred inequality or support for redistribution. Conclusion The overall pattern of results is consistent with the interpretation that perceptions of income inequality may be politically co‐determined with support for inequality and redistribution, instead of perceptions being mental antecedents of these attitudes.

Date: 2023
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