On the relationship of perceived inequality and policy preferences

This paper investigates the determinants of individuals' support for redistribution in the US from a behavioral perspective. In a comprehensive survey experiment with a large sample of US Americans, we identify participants' (mis-)perceptions about income inequality together with their policy preferences and fairness views. US Americans underestimate the income earned by people at the bottom of the distribution and overestimate the income of top earners. There is no evidence for a causal effect of perceived inequality on policy views or political behavior. We find precisely estimated and robust null effects across different types of inequality beliefs and across different measures of support for redistribution. The null effect holds for different income groups and party affiliations, as well as for participants with different levels of trust in government and of perceived autonomy. Taken together, our results do not offer support for information about the extent of inequality being able to increase support for redistributive policies.