Economic Well-Being, Social Mobility, and Preferences for Income Redistribution: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment

Ilja Neustadt and Peter Zweifel ()
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Peter Zweifel: Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich

No 909, SOI - Working Papers from Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich

Abstract: In this paper, preferences for income redistribution in Switzerland are elicited through a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) performed in 2008. In addition to the amount of redistribution as a share of GDP, attributes also included its uses (working poor, the unemployed, old-age pensioners, families with children, people in ill health) and nationality of beneficiary (Swiss, Western European, others). Willingness to pay for redistribution increases with income and education, contradicting the conventional Meltzer-Richard (1981) model. The Prospect of Upward Mobility hypothesis [Hirschman and Rothschild (1973); Benabou and Ok (2001)] receives partial empirical support.

Keywords: Income redistribution; preferences; willingness to pay; discrete choice experiments; stated choice; economic well-being; social mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C35 C93 D63 H29 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2009-07, Revised 2010-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/51782/1/wp0909.pdf revised version, 2010 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:soz:wpaper:0909

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