Footnote:
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments November 21, 2008 erstellt
Description:
Do conceptions of just rewards vary with economic development? To investigate this question we use the 1999-2000 "Inequality-III" round of the International Social Science Project together with other data in the World Inequality Study. There are 30 countries and 19 568 individual respondents in the full-time labor force. We measure inequality by the Gini coefficient for the general public's report of the legitimate earnings for their own occupation. OLS and multilevel analyses show patterns of influences very similar to those found in earlier research, with one striking exception. By far the most important influence, not previously documented across so many countries, is the prosperity of the nation: people in poor nations are much more accepting of inequality than are people in prosperous nations. If this cross-sectional pattern reflects developmental trends, as is likely, then it seems that economic development creates equalitarian attitudes. However, true egalitarianism is not held as ideal in any country, and so is not an appropriate goal for public policy. Instead the ideal level of inequality differs among countries. These ideals are a more appropriate benchmark for policy. We suggest that these benchmarks, available here for 150 nations, should be the starting point for future assessments of income inequality