TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Schwarze, Johannes
AU  - Härpfer, Marco
        TI  - Are People Inequality Averse, and Do They Prefer Redistribution by the State? A Revised Version
        PY  - 2003/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 974
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp974
        AB  - We link life-satisfaction data to inequality of the pre- and post-government income distribution
at the regional level, to estimate the degree of inequality aversion. Three different inequality
measures are used. In addition, we investigate whether a reduction in inequality by the state
increases individual well-being. We find only weak evidence that Germans are inequality
averse. Inequality reduction by the state does not increase wellbeing. On the contrary,
inequality reduction imposes an excess burden on middle-income earners. The paper uses
data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (GSOEP) from 1985 to 1998.
        KW  - life satisfaction
KW  - redistribution
KW  - inequality aversion
KW  - panel data
        ER  -