Revisiting positional choice: Survey evidence from Germany

Arbeitspapier

We conduct a survey to test for concerns about relative standing based on a large sample of the German population. Our survey approach asks respondents to choose between two hypothetical states of the world, in which they receive either a larger relative endowment or a larger absolute endowment that leaves them worse off in comparison to others. We receive the highest shares of positional answers for household income and one's children's IQ. We show that respondents with a larger social comparison orientation are significantly more likely to indicate positional preferences. This finding is robust despite some limited evidence that unintended alternative explanations based on feelings of material deprivation, feeling overworked, respondents' work ethic and environmental concerns affect respondents' choice.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ifso working paper ; No. 33

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: General ; Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
• Subject: Social Comparisons ; Positionality ; Survey Data

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Behringer, Jan ; Endres, Lukas ; van Treeck, Till
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socio-Economics (ifso)
• (where): Duisburg
• (when): 2024

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/285374
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET