Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment

Autores
Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas; Tetaz, Martin Alberto
Año de publicación
2013
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Individual perceptions of income distribution play a vital role in political economy and public finance models, yet there is little evidence regarding their origins or accuracy. This study examines how individuals form these perceptions and explores their potential impact on preferences for redistribution. A tailored household survey provides original evidence on systematic biases in individuals' evaluations of their own relative position in the income distribution. The study discusses one of the mechanisms that may generate such biases, based on the extrapolation of information from endogenous reference groups, and presents some suggestive evidence that this mechanism has significant explanatory power. The impact of these biased perceptions on attitudes toward redistributive policies is studied by means of an experimental design that was incorporated into the survey, which provided consistent information on the own-ranking within the income distribution to a randomly selected group of respondents. The evidence suggests that those who had overestimated their relative position and thought that they were relatively richer than they were tend to demand higher levels of redistribution when informed of their true ranking.
Fil: Cruces, Guillermo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina. Institute of Labor Economics; Alemania
Fil: Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas. Harvard University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Tetaz, Martin Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina
Materia
Biased Perceptions
Income Distribution
Limited Information
Preferences for Redistribution
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/76753
Acceder
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spelling Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experimentCruces, Guillermo AntonioPerez Truglia, Ricardo NicolasTetaz, Martin AlbertoBiased PerceptionsIncome DistributionLimited InformationPreferences for Redistributionhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5Individual perceptions of income distribution play a vital role in political economy and public finance models, yet there is little evidence regarding their origins or accuracy. This study examines how individuals form these perceptions and explores their potential impact on preferences for redistribution. A tailored household survey provides original evidence on systematic biases in individuals' evaluations of their own relative position in the income distribution. The study discusses one of the mechanisms that may generate such biases, based on the extrapolation of information from endogenous reference groups, and presents some suggestive evidence that this mechanism has significant explanatory power. The impact of these biased perceptions on attitudes toward redistributive policies is studied by means of an experimental design that was incorporated into the survey, which provided consistent information on the own-ranking within the income distribution to a randomly selected group of respondents. The evidence suggests that those who had overestimated their relative position and thought that they were relatively richer than they were tend to demand higher levels of redistribution when informed of their true ranking.Fil: Cruces, Guillermo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina. Institute of Labor Economics; AlemaniaFil: Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas. Harvard University; Estados UnidosFil: Tetaz, Martin Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; ArgentinaElsevier Science2013-02info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/76753Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas; Tetaz, Martin Alberto; Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment; Elsevier Science; Journal of Public Economics; 98; 2-2013; 100-1120047-2727CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2012.10.009info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727271200117Xinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-10-15T14:51:22Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/76753instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-10-15 14:51:22.943CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
title Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
spellingShingle Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
Biased Perceptions
Income Distribution
Limited Information
Preferences for Redistribution
title_short Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
title_full Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
title_fullStr Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
title_full_unstemmed Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
title_sort Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas
Tetaz, Martin Alberto
author Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
author_facet Cruces, Guillermo Antonio
Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas
Tetaz, Martin Alberto
author_role author
author2 Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas
Tetaz, Martin Alberto
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Biased Perceptions
Income Distribution
Limited Information
Preferences for Redistribution
topic Biased Perceptions
Income Distribution
Limited Information
Preferences for Redistribution
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/5
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Individual perceptions of income distribution play a vital role in political economy and public finance models, yet there is little evidence regarding their origins or accuracy. This study examines how individuals form these perceptions and explores their potential impact on preferences for redistribution. A tailored household survey provides original evidence on systematic biases in individuals' evaluations of their own relative position in the income distribution. The study discusses one of the mechanisms that may generate such biases, based on the extrapolation of information from endogenous reference groups, and presents some suggestive evidence that this mechanism has significant explanatory power. The impact of these biased perceptions on attitudes toward redistributive policies is studied by means of an experimental design that was incorporated into the survey, which provided consistent information on the own-ranking within the income distribution to a randomly selected group of respondents. The evidence suggests that those who had overestimated their relative position and thought that they were relatively richer than they were tend to demand higher levels of redistribution when informed of their true ranking.
Fil: Cruces, Guillermo Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina. Institute of Labor Economics; Alemania
Fil: Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas. Harvard University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Tetaz, Martin Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Departamento de Ciencias Económicas. Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales; Argentina
description Individual perceptions of income distribution play a vital role in political economy and public finance models, yet there is little evidence regarding their origins or accuracy. This study examines how individuals form these perceptions and explores their potential impact on preferences for redistribution. A tailored household survey provides original evidence on systematic biases in individuals' evaluations of their own relative position in the income distribution. The study discusses one of the mechanisms that may generate such biases, based on the extrapolation of information from endogenous reference groups, and presents some suggestive evidence that this mechanism has significant explanatory power. The impact of these biased perceptions on attitudes toward redistributive policies is studied by means of an experimental design that was incorporated into the survey, which provided consistent information on the own-ranking within the income distribution to a randomly selected group of respondents. The evidence suggests that those who had overestimated their relative position and thought that they were relatively richer than they were tend to demand higher levels of redistribution when informed of their true ranking.
publishDate 2013
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2013-02
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/76753
Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas; Tetaz, Martin Alberto; Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment; Elsevier Science; Journal of Public Economics; 98; 2-2013; 100-112
0047-2727
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/76753
identifier_str_mv Cruces, Guillermo Antonio; Perez Truglia, Ricardo Nicolas; Tetaz, Martin Alberto; Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment; Elsevier Science; Journal of Public Economics; 98; 2-2013; 100-112
0047-2727
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2012.10.009
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004727271200117X
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier Science
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier Science
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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