Headwinds, Tailwinds, and Preferences for Income Redistribution

David Chavanne

Social Science Quarterly, 2018, vol. 99, issue 3, 851-871

Abstract: Objective This study examines how preferences for income redistribution respond to information that points to the degree to which bad luck causes poverty and good luck causes wealth. Methods Survey respondents saw a vignette that described why someone is poor or a vignette that described why someone is wealthy; poverty and wealth were products of effort, various mixtures of effort and luck, one dimension of luck, or two dimensions of luck. Results Overall trends in the data show that redistribution is viewed more favorably as luck becomes marginally more important in causing both poverty and wealth. Pairwise comparisons of specific treatments show that responses to how degrees of bad luck cause poverty are more uniform and predictable than responses to how degrees of good luck cause wealth. Conclusion Redistributive preferences may be more malleable with respect to information that points to how bad luck contributes to poverty.

Date: 2018
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