Among all G20 countries, Germany has the lowest level of inequality in terms of disposable income. Germany's tax and transfer system - which has a strong and effective redistributive impact compared with other countries - plays a key role in this connection. Over the past ten years, positive...

Based on a cross-national comparison, there is virtually no empirical relationship between the actual size of income inequality within a country and how critically people view these income differences. This finding is revealed by subjective inequality data on 23 European countries and the US....

Different beliefs about how fair social competition is and what determines income inequality, influence the redistributive policy chosen democratically in a society. But the composition of income in the first place depends on equilibrium tax policies. If a society believes that individual effort...