Learning the Hard Way? Stability of Meritocratic Beliefs and Redistribution

• In Event: Nationalism and Redistribution

Abstract

This paper considers whether globalisation shocks affect perceptions of fairness of the economy and in turn redistributive attitudes. The Meltzer-Richard puzzle in political economy is often explained by accounts of tolerance of inequality insofar as it is seen as fair (Alesina and Angeletos, 2005; Alesina and La Ferrara, 2005). Hence, the expectation is that workers more exposed to economic shocks from globalisation will lower their tolerance of inequality, as they should be learning structural factors play a role in one’s income in so far as their job becomes more at risk. On the other hand, ignorance in terms of the actual levels of inequality (Cruz, 2013) and system justification motivation (Trump, 2017) would explain the absence of an effect. Do globalisation shocks change the weights exposed workers assign to structural as opposed to individual factors?

To test the question of whether workers in areas more affected by globalisation shocks are less likely to believe in meritocracy and more likely to support redistribution, I use British data on globalisation shocks and other local measures of changes in economic performance matched with survey data. The theoretical foundations of the argument are then tested through an experimental design. Implications speak to the literature on the rise of the far right, which often mentions low social status or a feeling of resentment for not getting what one deserves as a provoking factor—without however showing the evidence in so far as it relates to compensation. Moreover, results are relevant to understand how the current pandemic situation affected redistributive attitudes, given its role as an exogenous shock and the distributional consequences it entailed.

Author

• Anna Clemente, European University Institute