How Elastic Are Preferences for Redistribution? Evidence from Randomized Survey Experiments

TLDR

The study investigates how providing interactive, customized information about US income inequality, top income tax rates, and the estate tax influences respondents’ views on inequality and redistribution. The authors conduct randomized online survey experiments that present participants with tailored data on income inequality, the relationship between top tax rates and economic growth, and the estate tax. The experiments reveal large shifts in attitudes toward inequality but only modest changes in tax and transfer policy preferences, except for the estate tax where information doubles support; the limited effects on other policies are partly due to low trust in government and a mismatch between social concerns and policy solutions. JEL codes: D31, D72, H23, H24.

Abstract

We analyze randomized online survey experiments providing interactive, customized information on US income inequality, the link between top income tax rates and economic growth, and the estate tax. The treatment has large effects on views about inequality but only slightly moves tax and transfer policy preferences. An exception is the estate tax—informing respondents of the small share of decedents who pay it doubles support for it. The small effects for all other policies can be partially explained by respondents' low trust in government and a disconnect between concerns about social issues and the public policies meant to address them. (JEL D31, D72, H23, H24)