Are people inequality averse, and do they prefer redistribution by the state? : [evidence from German longitudinal data on life satisfaction]

Many validation studies deal with item-nonresponse and measurement error in earnings data. In this paper we explore motives of respondents for the failure to reveal earnings using the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP). GSOEP collects socio-economic information of private households in the Federal Republic of Germany. We explain the evolution of income-nonresponse in the GSOEP and demonstrate the importance of a discrimination between refusing the income-statement or don't know.