An inquiry into the foundations of PERCeived INEQuality

ended

Rising levels of inequality has become a key political, economic and social issue in recent years. Nevertheless, many studies show that individuals are much more likely to be influenced by subjective rather than objective inequality. For such reason, perceived inequality is becoming an increasingly popular topic among scholars and non-academic experts. Despite the growing number of studies, little is still known about what perceived inequality is exactly and how it can properly measured given that it is a contested, multidimensional and unobservable concept (1 research objective). Moreover, it is still not clear why people wrongly assess it and which are the consequences of such misperception (2 research objective). The first research objective aims at contributing to a general theory of perceived inequality defining perceptions within models of human behaviors through an interdisciplinary review of the literature. Moreover, improved measures of perceived inequality will be elaborated applying cluster analysis to multiple indicators. The second objective of the research focuses on the identification of the main causal mechanisms driving inequality misperceptions (limited rationality or emotional innumeracy) and its consequences in our society. Such objective is pursed through the creation of an original questionnaire and the implementation of a survey experiment for the collection of new data. Doing so, the simultaneous test of the two causal mechanisms can be implemented for the first time in the literature of perceptions of inequality. The survey will also allow to explore the political and economic consequences of misperceiving inequality. When considering political consequences, the research focuses on political unrest and populist voting (e.g., Brexit, Trump, Lega Nord in Italy); while for economic consequences, it focuses on preferences for redistribution. Important policy implications for our knowledge-based society are expected from PERCINEQ.