The Wealth Gap in Fairness Preferences: Evidence from America’s Top 5%
43 Pages Posted: 12 Jun 2019 Last revised: 25 Apr 2023
Date Written: December 21, 2022
Abstract
We survey a large and diverse sample of the top 5% of the income and wealth distribution
in the U.S. to study whether and why the wealthy favor less government redistribution than
the general population. Three results stand out: (1) wealthy Americans have distinct
fairness preferences as they are more willing to accept inequalities than the general public,
(2) first-generation wealthy (i.e., those who experienced upward social mobility) are
especially inequality-accepting, while individuals born into wealth have fairness
preferences close to those of the general population; (3) the wealth gap in fairness
preferences is predictive of greater opposition to redistribution among the wealthy, which
translates into more conservative voting behavior. These new facts expand our
understanding of why the rich oppose government redistribution.
Keywords: redistribution, social preferences, experimental economics, inequality
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