Eliciting preferences for redistribution across domains: A study on wealth, education, and health

People's preferences for redistribution are a key component of redistributive policy design, yet how to elicit these preferences is still a matter of debate. We recruited a nationally representative sample of more than 5000 US respondents. We used an approach based on principles of justice to elicit people's preferences for redistribution across different domains. We compared people's preferences for the distribution of wealth, good educational resources, and good health status. We found that people have different preferences across domains: they accept higher inequality in wealth whereas they prefer more equal distributions in education and health. These preferences are consistent across different demographic groups. We discuss policymaking implications: when designing redistributive policies, policymakers should take this approach into account to trigger more favorable reactions to such policies.

Duke Scholars

Author Dan Ariely Fuqua School of Business