Information on Income Concentration and Redistribution Preferences: The Case of the Top 1% in the United States

42 Pages Posted: 1 Nov 2022

See all articles by Juan Fernandez

Juan Fernandez

Charles III University of Madrid

Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo

National Distance Education University (UNED) - Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología

Fangqi Wen

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Sociology

Date Written: October 27, 2022

Abstract

Over the last decades income inequality has soared in the U.S., but we still have a very limited understanding regarding the relationship between objective aspects of income inequality and redistribution attitudes. Few studies, in particular, utilize experimental methodologies to assess whether having reliable, non-partisan information on income concentration affects the formation of redistribution attitudes. We advance this emerging literature through an analysis of information concerning the income owned by the top 1% of the income distribution — a group that is socio-politically meaningful and axial to the recent rise of inequality. The empirical evidence draws on a novel split-sample survey experiment (N=4,000) conducted in Autumn 2021. To ensure that the results capture net learning processes, we collect guesstimates of the level of income concentration of control- and treatment-group participants and assess whether providing the real value influences redistribution attitudes of under- or overestimators. The results indicate that having the real value of income concentration does not have an average, significant effect on redistribution attitudes. It does not moderate the positive association between prior perceptions of concentration and these attitudes either. The real value, however, reduces pro-redistribution attitudes among the restricted group of extreme overestimators who processed the information more intensely.

Suggested Citation

Fernandez, Juan and Jaime-Castillo, Antonio M. and Wen, Fangqi, Information on Income Concentration and Redistribution Preferences: The Case of the Top 1% in the United States (October 27, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4259768 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4259768

Juan Fernandez (Contact Author)

Charles III University of Madrid ( email )

Calle Madrid 126
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (room 15.2.42)
Getafe, Madrid 28903
Spain

Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo

National Distance Education University (UNED) - Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología ( email )

Madrid, 28040
Spain

Fangqi Wen

Ohio State University (OSU) - Department of Sociology ( email )

Columbus, OH

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