Preferences for Redistribution

Alesina, Alberto; Giuliano, Paola

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1333762

Cited by 341 publications

(504 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Meltzer and Richard, 1981) as well as empirical public choice approaches (e.g. Alesina and Giuliano, 2009;Alesina and La Ferrara, 2005;Corneo and Gr€ uner, 2002) suggest that those who are relatively better-off tend to prefer less public spending on redistributive policies. In this regard, the label 'redistributive' is typically applied to publicly provided goods and services that are (i) financed through proportional or progressive income tax, (ii) 'private' in the sense that they are typically characterised by excludability and/ or rivalry and (iii) provided by the government free of charge (e.g.…”

Section: Economic Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Preferences for Government Spending Priorities: Survey Evidence from Germany

Hayo

Neumeier

2019

German Economic Review

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Public Preferences for Government Spending Priorities: Survey Evidence from Germany AbstractEmploying data from a representative survey conducted in Germany, this paper examines public preferences for the size and composition of government expenditure. We focus on public attitudes toward taxes, public debt incurrence, and public spending in six different policy areas. Our findings suggest, first, that the current scope of government is supported by a majority of the German population. Second, we find that individual preferences for the composition of government spending differ along various dimensions. Specifically, personal economic wellbeing, economic literacy, confidence in politicians, political ideology, and time preference are significantly related to individual attitudes toward public spending, taxes, and debt. The magnitude of the effects is particularly large for time preference, economic knowledge, and party preference.Third, public preferences for public spending priorities are only marginally affected when considering a public budget constraint.JEL: E62, H11, H50, H63

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Section: Economic Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Preferences for Government Spending Priorities: Survey Evidence from Germany

Hayo

Neumeier

2019

German Economic Review

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“…This would be consistent with political economic models implying that it is mainly the percentage of low-skill types among migrants that negatively affects views about the acceptability of migration. 4 Another interpretation is that natives' preferences for redistributive policies and more broadly altruism are driven by identification with people belonging to the same community (Akerlof and Kranton 2005;Alesina and Giuliano 2009) and are negatively affected by ethnic diversity associated with migration. In the European countries covered by the World Value Survey, about 40% of the population explicitly favours redistributive policies with respect to people belonging to the same community.…”

Section: Decoupling Migration and Welfare: Policy Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immigration to the Land of Redistribution

Boeri¹

2010

Economica

150

156

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Negative perceptions about migrants in Europe, the Continent with the largest social policy programmes, are driven by concerns that foreigners are a net fiscal burden. Increasing concerns are pressing Governments, in the midst of the recession, to reduce welfare access by migrants or further tighten migration policies. Are there politically feasible alternatives to these two hardly enforceable (and procyclical) policy options? In this paper we look at economic and cultural determinants of negative perceptions about migrants in Europe. Based on a simple model of the perceived fiscal effects of migration and on a largely unexploited database (EU-Silc), we find no evidence that legal migrants, notably skilled migrants, are net recipients of transfers from the state. However, there is evidence of "residual dependency" on contributory transfers and self-selection migrants more likely to draw on welfare in the countries with the most generous welfare state. Moreover, those favouring redistribution to the poor do not overlap with those considering migrants as part of the same community. A way out of the migration dilemma facing Europe involves i. co-ordinating safety nets across the EU, and ii. adopting explicitly selective migration policies. Other options involve restricting welfare access by migrants and subsidising voluntary return migration of lowskilled migrants during the recession.

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“…23. The index is due to Alesina and Giuliano (2007). We thank the authors for providing us with their data.…”

Section: The Correlations Inmentioning

confidence: 99%