Using the Chinese urban household survey data between 1997 and 2006, we find that income inequality has a negative (positive) impact on households' consumption (savings), even after we control for family income. We argue that people save to improve their social status when social status is...

In this paper we report on the trade-offs that 1,068 Australian university students make between absolute income and the rank of that income in hypothetical income distributions. We find that income rank matters independently of absolute income, with greater weight given to rank by males,...

This paper analyzes the role of narrowly selfish and other-regarding preferences for the median voter in a Meltzer-Richard (1981) framework. We use computerized and real human co-players to distinguish between these sets of motivations. Redistribution to real co-players has a negative effect on...