Preference for Income Redistribution in Latin American Unequal Democracies: The Brazilian Case

• Grant number: 17/09789-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2017
• End date: July 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science
• Principal Investigator: Marta Teresa da Silva Arretche
• Grantee: Victor Augusto Araújo Silva
• Supervisor: Pablo Beramendi
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Duke University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/23215-0 - Fiscal federalism and territorial inequality in Brazil, BP.DR

Abstract

When and which individuals prefer income redistribution? Accordind to Piketty (1995) and Benabou and Ok (2001), social and economic mobility tends to create a sense of tolerance (or indifference) to inequality. This research aims to analyze individual preferences for income redistribution in unequal Latin American democracies. In these contexts, the variation of the well-being of porrest people depends strongly on the intervention of the State, reason why we should expect an association between the perception of social and economic mobility and the increase of the aversion to income inequality. This is a strategy of the poorest people to maintain individual well-being. To test this argument, using data from Brazil - a democracy with high levels of wealth inequality, high rates of informality in the labor market, and that has adopted several policies of income redistribution in recent decades - I will use a quasi-experimental design to test the effect of the increase in Subjective well-being (SWB), measured by the perception of social and economic mobility, on the support of individuals to redistributive income policies.