The School of Economics invites you to a Sydney Development Economics seminar by Christopher Hoy (Australian National University).

 How does Information about Inequality Shape Preferences for Redistribution and Voting Intentions? Evidence From a Randomized Survey Experiment in Indonesia

Abstract

We test how information about inequality effects people’s preferences for redistribution and their voting intentions in Indonesia by conducting a nationally representative, randomized survey experiment. Respondents were randomly allocated to receive information about either the level of inequality, the degree of upward mobility, their position in the national income distribution or no information. The first two treatments raised people’s concern about inequality but had no effect on their support redistribution. Information about the level of inequality increased the likelihood respondents would vote against the President by 20 per cent. Providing information about a respondent’s position in the distribution resulted in richer Indonesians becoming less supportive of redistribution across a range of measures. These findings suggest that communicating information to the public about inequality may harm the national government’s efforts to build a stronger ‘social contract’ with its citizens.