Bénabou, Roland; Ok, Efe A. - In: The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116 (2001) 2, pp. 447-487
This paper examines the often stated idea that the poor do not support high levels of redistribution because of the hope that they, or their offspring, may make it up the income ladder. This "prospect of upward mobility" (POUM) hypothesis is shown to be fully compatible with rational...