TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Albers, Thilo N. H.
AU  - Kersting, Felix
AU  - Kosse, Fabian
        TI  - Income Misperception and Populism
        PY  - 2022/Oct/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 15673
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp15673
        AB  - We propose that false beliefs about the own current economic status are an important factor for explaining populist attitudes. Along with the subjects' receptiveness to right-wing populism, we elicit their perceived relative income positions in a representative survey of German households. We find that people with pessimistic beliefs about their income position are more attuned to populist statements. Key to understanding the misperception-populism relationship are strong gender differences in the mechanism: Misperception triggers income dissatisfaction for both men and women, but the former are much more likely to channel their discontent into affection for populist ideas.
        KW  - perception
KW  - income
KW  - populism
        ER  -