Attitudes to Income Inequality: Experimental and Survey Evidence

We review the findings in surveys and experiments from the literature on attitudes to income inequality. We interpret the latter as any disparity in incomes between individuals. We classify these contributions into two broad groups of individual attitudes to income distribution in a society: the normative and the comparative view. The first can be thought of as the individual's disinterested evaluation of income inequality; on the contrary, the second view reflects self-interest, as individual's inequality attitudes depend not only on how much income they receive but also on how much they receive compared to others. We conclude with a number of extensions, outstanding issues and suggestions for future research.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00967938
Author Clark, Andrew E., d'Ambrosio, Conchita
Maintainer CCSD
Last Updated May 5, 2026, 19:38 (UTC)
Created May 5, 2026, 19:38 (UTC)
Identifier halshs-00967938
Language en
Rights https://about.hal.science/hal-authorisation-v1/
contributor Paris School of Economics (PSE) ; Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)-École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)
creator Clark, Andrew E.
date 2014-03-05T00:00:00
harvest_object_id c495c3da-df88-447c-8073-c7118a4429ea
harvest_source_id 3374d638-d20b-4672-ba96-a23232d55657
harvest_source_title test moissonnage SELUNE
metadata_modified 2025-10-01T00:00:00
set_spec type:UNDEFINED