Biased Perceptions of Income Inequality and Redistribution

Arbeitspapier

When based on perceived rather than on objective income distributions, the Meltzer-Richards hypothesis and the POUM hypothesis work quite well empirically: there exists a positive link between perceived inequality or perceived upward mobility and the extent of redistribution in democratic regimes - though such a link does not exist when objective measures of inequality and social mobility are used. These observations highlight that political preferences and choices might depend more on perceptions than on factual data.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4838

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
• Subject: biased perception ; majority voting ; redistribution

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Engelhardt, Carina ; Wagener, Andreas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2014

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/102231
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET