Preferences for inequality: East vs. West

This paper analyses 1999 data from a large international survey to examine whether attitudes to inequality differ between East and West even after the 'conventional' determinants of attitudes are controlled for. Results suggest that a decade after the breakdown of communism, people in transition countries are indeed significantly more "egalitarian"-minded than those living in the West, even after the actual level of income inequality and a series of other determinants of attitudes are taken into account. The results have implications for the political support for reform policy, in particular for the political feasibility of future welfare state reforms in these countries.