IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hig/wpaper/84-ec-2014.html

Perception Of Inequality And Social Mobility

Author

Listed:
  • Vladimir E. Gimpelson

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

  • Galina A. Monusova

Abstract

This paper explores the perceptions of inequality and their associations with social mobility exploiting the ISSP and LiTS cross-country data sets. These perceptions vary across countries as well as across individuals within countries. We try to explain this variation by examining the diverse opportunities for vertical social mobility available to individuals. The main research question raised in the paper is whether our perception of income differentiation is driven by experience of past mobility and availability of the upward leading instruments. In other words, is a more socially mobile society more tolerant to income inequality than a less mobile and segmented one? The intuitive answer seems to be an obvious “yes”, but empirical evidence is still scarce.

Suggested Citation

  • Vladimir E. Gimpelson & Galina A. Monusova, 2014. "Perception Of Inequality And Social Mobility," HSE Working papers WP BRP 84/EC/2014, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:84/ec/2014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hse.ru/data/2014/12/15/1103562366/84EC2014.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alesina, Alberto & La Ferrara, Eliana, 2005. "Preferences for redistribution in the land of opportunities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(5-6), pages 897-931, June.
    2. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2000. "Who wants to redistribute?: The tunnel effect in 1990s Russia," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 87-104, April.
    3. Corneo, Giacomo & Gruner, Hans Peter, 2002. "Individual preferences for political redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 83-107, January.
    4. Sen, Amartya, 2000. "Social justice and the distribution of income," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 59-85, Elsevier.
    5. Hirschman, Albert O., 1973. "The changing tolerance for income inequality in the course of economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 1(12), pages 29-36, December.
    6. Alberto Alesina & George-Marios Angeletos, 2005. "Fairness and Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 960-980, September.
    7. Alesina, Alberto & Angeletos, George-Marios, 2005. "Corruption, inequality, and fairness," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 1227-1244, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ovcharova, L. & Popova, D. & Rudberg, A., 2016. "Decomposition of Income Inequality in Contemporary Russia," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 170-186.
    2. Bavetta, Sebastiano & Li Donni, Paolo & Marino, Maria, 2020. "How consistent are perceptions of inequality?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Shuanglong Li & Yunsong Chen & Guangye He, 2019. "Mapping Public Concerns About Class Immobility in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 745-765, July.
    4. Lion Merten & Jana Niedringhaus, 2025. "When perception shapes reality: Effects of perceived income inequality and social mobility on affective polarization," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 23(2), pages 327-347, June.
    5. Juan Matamoros-Lima & Guillermo B Willis & Miguel Moya, 2023. "Rising and falling on the social ladder: The bidimensional social mobility beliefs scale," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Schwaiger, Rene & Huber, Jürgen & Kirchler, Michael & Kleinlercher, Daniel & Weitzel, Utz, 2022. "Unequal opportunities, social groups, and redistribution: Evidence from Germany," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    7. Vladimir Karacharovskiy & Elena Vakulenko, 2021. "Approaches to measuring the shadow price of individual wage mobility channels," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 61, pages 62-88.
    8. Ekaterina Borisova & Andrei Govorun & Denis Ivanov, 2016. "Bridging or Bonding? Preferences for Redistribution and Social Capital in Russia," Working Papers 05/2016, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, revised Nov 2016.
    9. E. V. Antonov, 2020. "Territorial Concentration of the Economy and Population in European Union Countries and Russia and the Role of Global Cities," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 360-372, July.
    10. Philipp Poppitz, 2016. "Does self-perceptions and income inequality match?," IMK Working Paper 173-2016, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    11. Maleva, T. & Burdyak, A., 2016. "Middle Class: the Empirical Measurement of Intergenerational Social Mobility in Russia," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 62-85.
    12. Jon M. Jachimowicz & Shai Davidai & Daniela Goya‐Tocchetto & Barnabas Szaszi & Martin V. Day & Stephanie J. Tepper & L. Taylor Phillips & M. Usman Mirza & Nailya Ordabayeva & Oliver P. Hauser, 2023. "Inequality in researchers’ minds: Four guiding questions for studying subjective perceptions of economic inequality," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1534-1561, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vladimir Gimpelson & Daniel Treisman, 2018. "Misperceiving inequality," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 27-54, March.
    2. Neher, Frank, 2012. "Preferences for redistribution around the world," Discussion Papers 2012/2, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    3. Laméris, Maite D. & Garretsen, Harry & Jong-A-Pin, Richard, 2020. "Political ideology and the intragenerational prospect of upward mobility," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Lionel Page & Daniel G. Goldstein, 2016. "Subjective beliefs about the income distribution and preferences for redistribution," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(1), pages 25-61, June.
    5. Pfarr, Christian, 2012. "Meltzer-Richard and social mobility hypothesis: revisiting the income-redistribution nexus using German choice data," MPRA Paper 43325, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Elvire Guillaud, 2011. "Preferences for redistribution : an empirical analysis," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00594072, HAL.
    7. Elvire Guillaud, 2008. "Preferences for redistribution: a European comparative analysis," PSE Working Papers halshs-00586260, HAL.
    8. Frank Neher, 2012. "Preferences for Redistribution around the World," Working Papers 26/2012, Universidade Portucalense, Centro de Investigação em Gestão e Economia (CIGE).
    9. Harald Lang & Florian Morath, 2015. "A Glance into the Tunnel: Experimental Evidence on Income Comparisons under Uncertainty," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2015-13, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    10. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina A.V. Fischer & Jan Schnellenbach, 2009. "On the relation between income inequality and happiness: Do fairness perceptions matter?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 20, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    11. Kuhn, Andreas, 2011. "In the eye of the beholder: Subjective inequality measures and individuals' assessment of market justice," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 625-641.
    12. Yamamura, Eiji, 2012. "Effects of siblings and birth order on income redistribution preferences," MPRA Paper 38658, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Clark, Andrew E. & D'Ambrosio, Conchita, 2014. "Attitudes to Income Inequality: Experimental and Survey Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 8136, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Grosfeld, Irena & Senik, Claudia, 2008. "The Emerging Aversion to Inequality. Evidence from Poland 1992-2005," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 0805, CEPREMAP.
    15. Kuhn, Andreas, 2009. "In the Eye of the Beholder: Subjective Inequality Measures and the Demand for Redistribution," IZA Discussion Papers 4360, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Bjørnskov, Christian & Dreher, Axel & Fischer, Justina A.V. & Schnellenbach, Jan & Gehring, Kai, 2013. "Inequality and happiness: When perceived social mobility and economic reality do not match," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 75-92.
    17. Russell Smyth & Vinod Mishra & Xiaolei Qian, 2010. "Knowing One’s Lot in Life Versus Climbing the Social Ladder: The Formation of Redistributive Preferences in Urban China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 96(2), pages 275-293, April.
    18. Erzo F. P. Luttmer & Monica Singhal, 2011. "Culture, Context, and the Taste for Redistribution," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 157-179, February.
    19. Bernasconi, Michele, 2006. "Redistributive taxation in democracies: Evidence on people's satisfaction," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 809-837, December.
    20. Maria Grazia Pittau & Riccardo Massari & Roberto Zelli, 2013. "Hierarchical Modelling of Disparities in Preferences for Redistribution," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(4), pages 556-584, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:84/ec/2014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Shamil Abdulaev or Shamil Abdulaev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hsecoru.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.