Perceived income positions and attitudes towards EU inequality: A cross-country survey experiment

Arbeitspapier

We examine the relationship between perceived income positions and attitudes towards inequality at a supranational-level. Conducting a survey in four EU Member States (Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden), we confirm that their citizens misperceive their own income position in the EU. Once we account for these misperceptions, we find that those with a lower income rank assess EU income differences as more unjust and are more supportive of an EU minimum wage. When we inform a randomized subsample about their actual income position in the EU, those who learn to be richer than they initially thought assess EU income differences as less unjust. Respondents in Italy, Poland, and to a lesser extent Sweden drive these results whereas income misperceptions of German respondents have opposing effects.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WiSo-HH Working Paper Series ; No. 70

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; International Institutional Arrangements
• Subject: Income ; Misperceptions ; Inequality ; EU Minimum Wage ; European Union ; Survey Experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bublitz, Elisabeth ; Wang, Hequn ; Jäger, Julian ; Beblo, Miriam ; Lohmann, Henning
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Universität Hamburg, Fakultät für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, WiSo-Forschungslabor
• (where): Hamburg
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/266440