Inequality Aversion and Voting on Redistribution

Arbeitspapier

Some people have a concern for a fair distribution of incomes while others do not. Does such a concern matter for majority voting on redistribution? Fairness preferences are relevant for redistribution outcomes only if fair-minded voters are pivotal. Pivotality, in turn, depends on the structure of income classes. We experimentally study voting on redistribution between two income classes and show that the effect of inequality aversion is asymmetric. Inequality aversion is more likely to matter if the rich are in majority. With a poor majority, we find that redistribution outcomes look as if all voters were exclusively motivated by self-interest.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Working Papers in Economics and Statistics ; No. 2011-13

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Relation of Economics to Social Values ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
• Subject: redistribution ; self interest ; inequality aversion ; median voter ; experiment ; Einkommensumverteilung ; Median Voter ; Gerechtigkeit ; Eigeninteresse ; Test

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Höchtl, Wolfgang ; Sausgruber, Rupert ; Tyran, Jean-Robert
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Innsbruck, Research Platform Empirical and Experimental Economics (eeecon)
• (where): Innsbruck
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/73545
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET