IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unu/wpaper/wp-2025-62.html

Perceptions of inequality: Regional differences in Viet Nam

Author

Listed:
  • Alberto Diaz-Cayeros
  • Ines A. Ferreira
  • Rachel M. Gisselquist
  • Finn Tarp

Abstract

Inequality influences socioeconomic and political outcomes. Beyond objective metrics, how people perceive inequality plays a crucial role. Yet attitudes and perceptions of inequality remain understudied, especially outside western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic settings. This article speaks to this gap, providing insights from Viet Nam, a lower-middle income country with rising inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Diaz-Cayeros & Ines A. Ferreira & Rachel M. Gisselquist & Finn Tarp, 2025. "Perceptions of inequality: Regional differences in Viet Nam," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2025-62, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-62
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/Publications/Working-paper/PDF/wp2025-62-perceptions-inequality.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Knell, Markus & Stix, Helmut, 2020. "Perceptions of inequality," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Melissa Dell & Nathan Lane & Pablo Querubin, 2018. "The Historical State, Local Collective Action, and Economic Development in Vietnam," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 2083-2121, November.
    3. Dietmar Fehr & Johanna Mollerstrom & Ricardo Perez-Truglia, 2022. "Your Place in the World: Relative Income and Global Inequality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 232-268, November.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano, 2010. "The power of the family," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 93-125, June.
    5. 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.
    6. Christopher Hoy & Franziska Mager, 2021. "Why Are Relatively Poor People Not More Supportive of Redistribution? Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment across Ten Countries," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 299-328, November.
    7. Cruces, Guillermo & Perez-Truglia, Ricardo & Tetaz, Martin, 2013. "Biased perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from a survey experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 100-112.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Elisabeth Sattler-Bublitz & Hequn Wang & Julian Jäger & Henning Lohmann & Miriam Beblo, 2024. "Misperceptions, Income Positions, and Attitudes Toward EU Inequality: A Cross-Country Survey Experiment," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 25-45, January.
    2. Friederike Mengel & Elke Weidenholzer, 2023. "Preferences for redistribution," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1660-1677, December.
    3. Lasse J. Jessen & Sebastian Koehne & Patrick Nüß & Jens Ruhose, 2024. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Life Expectancy: Perception and Policy Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10940, CESifo.
    4. Monica Bozzano & Simona Scabrosetti, 2024. "What Drives Gender Gaps in Preferences for Redistribution? New Evidence from the European Social Survey," Working papers 118, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    5. Juliana Londoño-Vélez, 2022. "The Impact of Diversity on Perceptions of Income Distribution and Preferences for Redistribution," NBER Working Papers 30386, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Monica Bozzano & Simona Scabrosetti, 2024. "Preferences for Redistribution: Two Decades of Gender Gaps and Generational Differences in Europe," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 70(3), pages 320-345.
    7. Fehr, Dietmar & Müller, Daniel & Preuss, Marcel, 2024. "Social mobility perceptions and inequality acceptance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 366-384.
    8. Martin Brun & Xavier Ramos, 2025. "Attitudes to income inequality and redistribution," Working Papers 33, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.
    9. Riccardo Bruni & Alessandro Gioffré & Maria Marino, 2025. "In‐group bias in preferences for redistribution: a survey experiment in Italy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 92(367), pages 1009-1080, July.
    10. Gassmann, Franziska & Timár, Eszter, 2024. "Perceived position on the social ladder and redistributive preferences – A survey experiment from the Kyrgyz Republic," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. repec:osf:socarx:3x4jh_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Moore, Don A. & Choudhari, Rene & Wu, Aileen, 2025. "Does the prospect of upward mobility undermine support for redistribution?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    13. repec:osf:socarx:vcuzp_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Margot Belguise & Yuchen Huang & Zhexun Mo, 2023. "The Non-Meritocrats or Conformist Meritocrats? A Redistribution Experiment in China and France," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-04423661, HAL.
    15. Margot Belguise & Yuchen Huang & Zhexun Mo, 2024. "Non-meritocrats or choice-reluctant meritocrats? A redistribution experiment in China and France," Discussion Papers 2024-05, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    16. Londoño-Vélez, Juliana, 2022. "The impact of diversity on perceptions of income distribution and preferences for redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    17. Günther, Isabel & Martorano, Bruno, 2025. "Inequality, social mobility and redistributive preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    18. Ardanaz, Martín & Hübscher, Evelyne & Keefer, Philip & Sattler, Thomas, 2022. "Policy Misperceptions, Information, and the Demand for Redistributive Tax Reform: Experimental Evidence from Latin American Countries," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12607, Inter-American Development Bank.
    19. Belguise, Margot & Huang, Yuchen & Mo, Zhexun, 2023. "Non-Meritocrats or Choice-Reluctant Meritocrats? A Redistribution Experiment in China and France," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1476, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    20. Fehr, Dietmar & Vollmann, Martin, 2020. "Misperceiving Economic Success: Experimental Evidence on Meritocratic Beliefs and Inequality Acceptance," Working Papers 0695, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    21. Bargain, Olivier B. & Jara Tamayo, Holguer Xavier & Rivera, David, 2025. "Social Gaps, Perceived Inequality and Protests," IZA Discussion Papers 17769, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Christopher Hoy & Lionel Page & Catherine Eckel & Philip Grossman & Daniel Goldstein, 2025. "Political polarization, wage inequality and preferences for redistribution," IFS Working Papers W25/36, Institute for Fiscal Studies.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-62. 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: Siméon Rapin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/widerfi.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.