Are people inequality averse, and do they prefer redistribution by the state? : A revised version

We link life-satisfaction data to inequality of the pre- and post-government income distribution at the regional level, to estimate the degree of inequality aversion. Three different inequality measures are used. In addition, we investigate whether a reduction in inequality by the state increases individual well-being. We find only weak evidence that Germans are inequality averse. Inequality reduction by the state does not increase wellbeing. On the contrary, inequality reduction imposes an excess burden on middle-income earners. The paper uses data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (GSOEP) from 1985 to 1998.

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Year of publication:	2003
Authors:	Schwarze, Johannes ; Härpfer, Marco
Publisher:	Bonn : Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Subject:	Einkommensverteilung \| Soziale Werte \| Einkommensumverteilung \| Lebensqualität \| Schätzung \| Deutschland \| Lebenszufriedenheit \| inequality aversion \| redistribution \| life satisfaction \| panel data

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Series:	IZA Discussion paper series ; 974
Type of publication:	Book / Working Paper
Type of publication (narrower categories):	Working Paper
Language:	English
Other identifiers:	37748198X [GVK] hdl:10419/20210 [Handle]
Classification:	I31 - General Welfare; Basic Needs; Quality of Life ; D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement ; D31 - Personal Income, Wealth and Their Distributions ; C23 - Models with Panel Data
Source:	EconStor