In most countries, wealth inequality is much higher than income inequality, spurring debates about wealth taxation. However, it is unclear if voters are aware of these differences.
- Speaker
- Date
- Friday 20 Sep 2024, 12:00 - 13:30
- Type
- Seminar
- Room
- VB-02
- Building
- V Building
In a large-scale survey experiment among a representative Dutch population (N=4,501), we study voters' perceptions of income and wealth distributions, and connect their views to administrative data about their own income and wealth.
Despite a primer on the definition of income and wealth, respondents underestimate the difference between the top 10% share of income and wealth by a factor of 10. Moreover, they use information about the income distribution to make predictions about the wealth distribution and vice versa, even when information about both is provided, further demonstrating confusion about the two types of inequality.
An information intervention about actual inequality levels and personal ranks in the income/wealth distribution has an impact on the perceived inequality and perceived fairness of inequality, but little effect on policy preferences. We discuss implications for political debates about inequality and wealth taxation.
About the speaker
Thomas Douenne is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Amsterdam. He holds a PhD from Paris School of Economics. He has published in among others AEJ: Economic Policy and Nature Climate Change.
Registration
If you would like to have a bilateral or join the speaker for lunch or dinner on Friday, please send an email to dur@ese.eur.nl.
See also
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