Distributive justice, social norms and the diversity of demands for redistribution

Justice distributive, normes sociales et diversité des demandes de redistribution

Gilles Le Garrec ()
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Gilles Le Garrec: OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po

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Abstract: When considering the preference for redistribution at the individual level, the first thing we notice is that people with lower incomes are the ones who say they would like a greater redistribution of income. But the way people look at income in general also plays a crucial role. Indeed, if someone thinks that income reflects more luck than effort, then they will tend to support a higher redistribution. What empirical studies tell us is that demands for redistribution reflect both individuals' self-interest as well as their concern for distributive justice. It should nevertheless be pointed out that the intensity of this concern may vary greatly from one country to another. More precisely, the study by Corneo (2001) showed that people from countries with high income redistribution, such as former West Germany, are characterized by a greater concern for distributive justice than people in low redistribution countries such as the United States. Given this, understanding the role of the cultural environment in the development of individual preferences is crucial to an understanding of demands for redistribution and, by extension, the diversity of redistributive policies in democracies, as illustrated in the table below. In this regard, the conclusion by Luttmer and Signal (2011) that immigrants from countries with a strong preference for redistribution continue to support a higher redistribution in their host country than do natives is decisive. It thus seems not only that the intensity of a person's concern for distributive justice depends on the environment in which they are raised, but also that this no longer varies after reaching adulthood. [First paragraph]

Keywords: Cultural transmission; Distributive justice; Social norms; Immigrés; Inégalités; Politiques redistributives; Sentiment d'insécurité (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-09-20
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03471761
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Published in 2017

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