Do the Wealthy Care about Inequality?

• In Event: 212 - Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. The View from the Top: Attitudes on Inequality Among the Wealthy or Highly Educated

Abstract

Economic inequality has risen dramatically in the U.S. over the last 30 years. The wealthiest one percent are pulling away from everyone else, but there is a paucity of research on what the wealthy know and think about this trend. Using new data from original, in-depth interviews with 95 wealthy Americans from across the country, as well as data from the Survey of Economically Successful Americans and the Common Good, which represents the richest Chicago-area residents, this paper describes and explains what the very affluent believe about income and wealth inequality. Despite methodological differences, the interview and survey data yielded very similar patterns of answers: the wealthy are aware of economic inequality and recognize that it has grown in recent decades. Interview and survey respondents tended to agree that income inequality is too high. However, the wealthy do not necessarily believe that there should be less wealth inequality. Furthermore, they tended to oppose government intervention to ameliorate economic inequality. In short, the wealthy know that economic inequality is rising, but they do not agree that anything should or can be done to reverse the trend. These findings are important because what the wealthy know and think influences politicians who translate views into policies. If the wealthy do not oppose economic inequality, or do not favor government programs to reduce inequality, then it is especially important for scholars and policy experts to learn what ideas and preferences the wealthy embrace.

Author

• Fiona C. Chin, Northwestern University