I conduct a survey experiment to test how individuals' preferences for redistributive policies respond to news of their vulnerability to an automation-induced labor market shock. As respondents feel more vulnerable, their preferences for redistributive policies remain constant or decline. However, introducing rhetoric that causes respondents to view automation-induced inequality as unfair increases preferences for several redistributive policies. The effects are pronounced among more-educated respondents - a group expected to increasingly be affected by automation in future. This suggests that, going forward, rhetoric may become increasingly influential in terms of the political viability of a redistributive policy response to automation going forward
I conduct a survey experiment to test how individuals' preferences for redistributive policies respond to news of their vulnerability to an automationinduced labor market shock. As respondents feel more vulnerable, their preferences for redistributive policies remain constant or decline. However, introducing rhetoric that causes respondents to view automation-induced inequality as unfair increases preferences for several redistributive policies. The effects are pronounced among more-educated respondents-a group expected to increasingly be affected by automation in future. This suggests that, going forward, rhetoric may become increasingly influential in terms of the political viability of a redistributive policy response to automation.
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