Relative income and global inequality: Evidence from the United Kingdom

This paper provides a direct replication of Fehr et al. (2022), who examine whether information about individuals’ position in the global income distribution affects preferences over global inequality. Whereas the original study draws on a representative sample from Germany, we analyze a broadly representative UK sample ( N = 2116 ). UK respondents underestimate their global rank by about 2.4 deciles on average, yet randomly providing accurate rank information has no detectable effect on real-stakes donations to international anti-poverty NGOs or on policy attitudes toward global redistribution, international organizations, globalization, or immigration. The estimated average treatment effects are small, close to zero, and precisely estimated. A data-driven heterogeneity analysis reveals no sizable or systematic differences in subgroup responses. Overall, the results reinforce the evidence that correcting global income misperceptions alone is unlikely to shift preferences over global inequality in the European settings studied so far.