Journal of Public Economics · 2025 · Aljosha Henkel、Ernst Fehr、Julien Senn、Thomas Epper
中文摘要
关于不平等的认知是否依赖于分配偏好？关于不平等的偏好与认知对再分配支持的共同作用是什么？我们在针对一项高度再分配政策提案进行投票的背景下，通过一项在瑞士人口中具有广泛代表性的样本进行的交错实验来研究这些问题。我们的样本包含大多数不平等厌恶型受试者、相当数量的利他型受试者以及少数主要利己型受试者。无论偏好类型如何，个人都高估了收入不平等的程度。一项信息干预成功纠正了所有类型受试者的这些巨大错误认知，但本质上并未影响对再分配的总体支持。然而，这些结果掩盖了重要的异质性，因为关于不平等的认知对再分配需求的影响取决于偏好：只有不平等厌恶型个人，而非利己型和利他型个人，显著减少了他们对再分配的支持。这些发现为这一看似令人困惑的结果提供了新的视角，即在总体上，关于不平等的认知的巨大变化往往不会转化为再分配需求的变化。
Abstract
Do beliefs about inequality depend on distributive preferences? What is the joint role of preferences and beliefs about inequality for support for redistribution? We study these questions in a staggered experiment with a broadly representative sample of the Swiss population conducted in the context of a vote on a highly redistributive policy proposal. Our sample comprises a majority of inequality averse subjects, a sizeable group of altruistic subjects, and a minority of predominantly selfish subjects. Irrespective of preference types, individuals overestimate the extent of income inequality. An information intervention successfully corrects these large misperceptions for all types, but essentially does not affect aggregate support for redistribution. These results hide, however, important heterogeneity because the effects of beliefs about inequality for demand for redistribution are preference-dependent: only inequality averse individuals, but not the selfish and altruistic ones, significantly reduce their support for redistribution. These findings cast a new light on the seemingly puzzling result that, in the aggregate, large changes in beliefs about inequality often do not translate into changes in demand for redistribution.