The presence of a social context increases support for redistribution: Inequality aversion and risk aversion

Social insurance motivations consider the welfare of others who are in potentially unfavorable situations. However, their role in increasing support for redistribution is not yet fully understood. The experiment reported here examined distributional decisions in which participants determined income...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International political science review 2024-06, Vol.45 (3), p.352-367
Main Authors: Kato, Junko, Takesue, Hirofumi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decisions
Equality
Income distribution
Inequality
Redistribution
Risk
Social environment
Social security
Welfare policy
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Summary:Social insurance motivations consider the welfare of others who are in potentially unfavorable situations. However, their role in increasing support for redistribution is not yet fully understood. The experiment reported here examined distributional decisions in which participants determined income distribution without being informed to which income class they would belong. This was contrasted with decisions made in lottery situations. Lottery decisions had the same risk for oneself, but they lacked a social context, namely the influence on the incomes of others. Less risky (more equal) decisions were observed in distributional decisions than in lottery decisions. Further, the selection of equality in distributional decisions (but not the risk aversion observed in lottery decisions) was positively correlated with support for welfare policies, which had been measured by a pre-experiment survey. This study observed the critical role of social context, which promotes the consideration of the welfare of others in fostering support for redistribution.
ISSN:0192-5121
1460-373X
DOI:10.1177/01925121231168833