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Perception Of Inequality And Social Mobility

Author

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  • 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
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    File URL: http://www.hse.ru/data/2014/12/15/1103562366/84EC2014.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Corneo, Giacomo & Gruner, Hans Peter, 2002. "Individual preferences for political redistribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 83-107, January.
    2. Alberto Alesina & George-Marios Angeletos, 2005. "Fairness and Redistribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 960-980, September.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Angeletos, George-Marios, 2005. "Corruption, inequality, and fairness," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(7), pages 1227-1244, October.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    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. 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).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Karacharovskiy, Vladimir & Vakulenko, Elena, 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.
    6. Philipp Poppitz, 2016. "Does self-perceptions and income inequality match?," IMK Working Paper 173-2016, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    7. Bavetta, Sebastiano & Li Donni, Paolo & Marino, Maria, 2020. "How consistent are perceptions of inequality?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Perception of inequality; redistribution; social mobility; cross country data;
    All these 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

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