How does symbolic success affect redistribution in left-wing voters? A focus on the 2017 French presidential election

Vincent Berthet (), Camille Dorin, Jean-Christophe Vergnaud and Vincent de Gardelle
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Vincent Berthet: 2LPN - Laboratoire lorrain de psychologie et neurosciences de la dynamique des comportements - UL - Université de Lorraine, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Camille Dorin: CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL

Abstract: Redistribution preferences depend on factors such as self-interest and political views. Recently, Deffains et al. (2016) reported that redistributive behavior is also sensitive to the actual experience of success or failure in a real effort task. While successful participants (‘overachievers') are more likely to attribute their success to their effort rather than luck and opt for less redistribution, unsuccessful participants (‘underachievers') tend to attribute their failure to external factors and opt for more redistribution. The aim of the present study was to test how the experience of success (symbolic success) and political views interact in producing redistributive behavior in an experimental setting. The study was conducted during the 2017 French presidential election. Our sample was biased towards left-wing, and most participants reported voting for Mélenchon, Hamon or Macron. Our findings reveal that 1) Macron voters redistribute less than Hamon voters who themselves redistribute less than Mélenchon voters, 2) overachievers redistribute less than underachievers only among Mélenchon voters. This suggests that redistributive behavior is governed primarily by political opinions, and that influence by exogenous manipulation of symbolic success is not homogenous across left-wing political groups.

Date: 2020-03-16
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02510463v1
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Published in PLoS ONE, 2020, 15 (3), pp.e0229096. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0229096⟩

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Journal Article: How does symbolic success affect redistribution in left-wing voters? A focus on the 2017 French presidential election (2020)
Working Paper: How does symbolic success affect redistribution in left-wing voters? A focus on the 2017 French presidential election (2020)
Working Paper: How does symbolic success affect redistribution in left-wing voters? A focus on the 2017 French presidential election (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-02510463

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229096

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