Fairness and the unselfish demand for redistribution by taxpayers and welfare recipients

Arbeitspapier

We illustrate how the desire to live in a fair society that rewards individual effort and hard work triggers an unselfish though rational demand for redistribution. This leads the well off to prefer higher taxes and the poor to reject extreme progressivity. We then provide evidence of these behaviors using a nationally representative survey from Italy. Our empirical analysis confirms that a stronger aversion to unfair distributive outcomes is associated with a higher support for redistribution by individuals with high income and to a lower demand for redistribution by those with low income.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: EERI Research Paper Series ; No. 14/2017

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Structure and Scope of Government: General ; National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; Welfare Economics: Other
• Subject: Fairness ; income distribution ; inequalities ; taxation ; welfare ; redistribution ; free-riding ; civic capital ; social capital

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Sabatini, Fabio ; Ventura,Marco ; Yamamura, Eiji ; Zamparelli, Luca
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI)
• (where): Brussels
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/179415
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET