Preferences for redistribution policies among politicians and citizens

Olivera, Javier, Breunig, Christian, Broderstad, Troy, Dumont, PatricK and Sterba, Maj-Britt (2025) Preferences for redistribution policies among politicians and citizens. III Working Paper (152). International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

This paper compares the “mental maps” of redistribution among politicians and citizens across seven parliaments, using original in-person surveys of sitting MPs and nationally representative citizen samples. Fairness beliefs and ideology are the strongest correlates of support for redistribution in both groups, while misperceptions of wealth concentration matter for citizens but much less for politicians. A central finding is that politicians hold markedly more polarized views on redistribution than citizens, including within the same party families. We also find systematic elite–voter gaps: left MPs are more supportive than their voters (notably on inheritance taxation), whereas right/liberal MPs are less supportive than theirs. These patterns point to a representation concern and a bargaining space among elites that is narrower than in the electorate.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Additional Information:	© The Authors
Divisions:	International Inequalities Institute
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HJ Public Finance H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
JEL classification:	H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H24 - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
Date Deposited:	03 Nov 2025 15:09
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2025 12:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/130033

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