Where do I stand in the EU? Income comparisons and perceptions

Elisabeth Sattler-Bublitz, Julian Jäger, Hequn Wang, Miriam Beblo and Henning Lohmann

No 66, WiSo-HH Working Paper Series from University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory

Abstract: With a survey experiment conducted in Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, we investigate how EU citizens rank themselves within the EU. In all four countries, (mis-)perceptions of EU income positions result primarily from respondents' (incomplete) information about their national position and their perceived country ranking within the EU. Low-income respondents tend to place themselves higher and richer respondents lower in both the national and EU income distribution. Respondents who are informed about their income position estimate their EU ranking more accurately in a follow-up survey. Our findings show that concepts of inequality at the EU level are empirically meaningful and that EU citizens have a reference frame beyond their own country.

Keywords: Perceptions; Inequality; European Union; Survey Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D31 H24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-exp and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:uhhwps:66

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