Using a laboratory experiment, we present first evidence that social image concerns causally reduce the take-up of an individually beneficial transfer. Our design manipulates the informativeness of the take-up decision by varying whether transfer eligibility is based on ability or luck, and how...

Within a simple setup, we show that proportional taxation is implied by three properties: efficiency, symmetry, and monotonicity. Efficiency: redistribution has no cost. Symmetry: members of the society with the same performance obtain the same reward after redistribution. Monotonicity: whenever...

This paper uses pseudo panel techniques and a fixed effects estimator to analyse the determinants of preferences for redistribution in 34 European countries over the period 2002-2012. The data is drawn from the six available waves of the European Social Survey. The main result is that changes in...

Arguments about the appropriate discount rate often start by assuming a Utilitarian social welfare function with isoelastic utility, in which the consumption discount rate is a function of the (constant) elasticity of marginal utility along with the (much discussed) utility discount rate. In...

In this paper, we use tax and household survey data to assess the history of income distribution in Argentina since the beginning of the 20th century. Until the 1970s, the country experienced a fall in inequality in spite of lower income growth. Since then, inequality has generally increased...

Viele Kritiker gehen davon aus, dass im Zuge der Globalisierung der Kündigungsschutz und die Arbeitslosenunterstützung reduziert und gesetzliche Mindestlöhne gesenkt bzw. gar nicht erst eingeführt werden. Eine neue Studie, die den Einfluss von Globalisierung auf die Arbeitsmarktinstitutionen...

Redistribution across individuals within the framework of a one-year period is an empirically intensely studied question. However, a substantial share of annual redistribution might turn out to serve individual insurance in a longer perspective, reducing the level of actual redistribution across...

Wie viel Umverteilung Bürgerinnen und Bürger in der Gesellschaft möchten, hängt von sozioökonomischen Faktoren und ihren Ansichten über Gerechtigkeit ab. Diese Studie, basierend auf einer in Schweden durchgeführten, repräsentativen Umfrage, bestätigt frühere Ergebnisse: Demnach nimmt...