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Social identity and redistributive preferences: a survey

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Joan Costa-i-Font
  • Frank Cowell

Abstract

Social identity is increasingly accepted as a key concept underpin- ning the endogeneity of economic behaviour and preferences. This feature is especially important in explaining redistribution preferences as well as attitudes towards redistribution and pro-social behaviour. This paper carries out a review of the literature on the question and ex- amines how economic theory conceptualises and empirically measures social identity and its effects on preferences towards redistribution, so- cial solidarity and redistributive institutions. Findings indicate that social identity does carries a weight in explaining the presence of social preferences and attitudes towards redistributive institutions.

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File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/44307/
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Paper provided by London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library in its series LSE Research Online Documents on Economics with number 44307.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: 2012
Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:44307
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LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.

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Web page: http://www.lse.ac.uk/

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Keywords: social identity; preferences for redistribution; inequal- ity; diversity; redistributive institutions;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
  • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

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Cited by:

  1. Dimant, Eugen, 2015. "On Peer Effects: Behavioral Contagion of (Un)Ethical Behavior and the Role of Social Identity," MPRA Paper 68732, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  2. Holm, Joshua, 2016. "A model of redistribution under social identification in heterogeneous federations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 39-48.
  3. Panos Mavrokonstantis, 2015. "Modern Family: Female Breadwinners and the Intergenerational Transmission of Gender Norms," STICERD - Public Economics Programme Discussion Papers 27, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
  4. Pittau, Maria Grazia & Farcomeni, Alessio & Zelli, Roberto, 2016. "Has the attitude of US citizens towards redistribution changed over time?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 714-724.
  5. Daniel Müller, 2017. "The anatomy of distributional preferences with group identity," Working Papers 2017-02, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck, revised Mar 2017.
  6. Sabine Flamand, 2015. "Interregional transfers, group loyalty and the decentralization of redistribution," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 307-330, November.
  7. Schnellenbach, Jan & Schubert, Christian, 2015. "Behavioral political economy: A survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 395-417.
  8. Fuhai HONG, 2014. "Ideals should not be too ideal: Identity and public good contribution," Economic Growth Centre Working Paper Series 1411, Nanyang Technological University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Economic Growth Centre.

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