Szaszi Barnabas, Habibnia Hooman, Tan Josephine, Hauser Oliver P, Jachimowicz Jon M
Institute of Psychology, ELTE, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 46 Izabella street, 1064 Budapest, Hungary.
Institute for Cognition and Behavior, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1 Welthandelsplatz, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
PNAS Nexus. 2024 Sep 17;3(9):pgae333. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae333. eCollection 2024 Sep.
The misperception of income inequality is often touted as a critical barrier to more widespread support of redistributive policies. Here, we examine to what extent and why (mis)perceptions vary systematically across the income distribution. Drawing on data from four studies ( = 2,744)-including a representative sample and preregistered incentive-compatible experiments-we offer converging evidence that people specifically underestimate the amount of income held by the top of the income distribution. While this selective underestimation is likely driven by multiple mechanisms, including systemic factors, we find that cognitive biases contribute to the observed pattern of results. The rise of inequality in many developed countries has been documented before, and the fact that this growing inequality is largely driven by the outsized gains of the richest individuals may pose new challenges previously underappreciated: our theory and findings highlight that cognitive biases pose a key obstacle to people's recognition of the concentration of income among the richest individuals, and may potentially distort their preferences for redistribution. We conclude by discussing future directions for research and the importance of incorporating behavioral and cognitive limitations into the design of redistributive public policy.
收入不平等的错误认知常常被视为更广泛支持再分配政策的关键障碍。在此，我们考察了这种（错误）认知在收入分配中系统变化的程度及原因。基于四项研究（N = 2744）的数据——包括一个代表性样本和预先注册的激励兼容实验——我们提供了趋同的证据，表明人们特别低估了收入分配顶端人群的收入数额。虽然这种选择性低估可能由多种机制驱动，包括系统性因素，但我们发现认知偏差促成了所观察到的结果模式。许多发达国家不平等现象的加剧此前已有记载，而且这种日益加剧的不平等在很大程度上由最富有人群的巨额收益所驱动，这一事实可能带来了此前未得到充分认识的新挑战：我们的理论和研究结果强调，认知偏差是人们认识到最富有人群收入集中情况的关键障碍，并且可能潜在地扭曲他们对再分配的偏好。我们通过讨论未来的研究方向以及将行为和认知局限纳入再分配公共政策设计的重要性来结束本文。
