Abstract: The
onset of the Great Recession has brought income inequality to the forefront of
political debate in many democracies, although rising inequality can be traced
back to the early 1980s. To account for
this heightened concern, I develop a model of attitude formation on inequality
that highlights the role of macroeconomic evaluations in influencing how
citizens view income inequality. Specifically,
I argue that economic evaluations are correlated with tolerance for income
inequality at the individual-level.
Consequently, as opinions on the macroeconomy decline, public opposition
to income inequality increases. I
contend that this relationship between economic evaluations and inequality
attitudes is linked with citizens’ beliefs about economic agency, and whether
large income differences are attributable to circumstances that are beyond
individuals’ control. Leveraging
cross-national and panel survey analyses, as well as comparative case studies,
my findings underscore three areas in which conventional models of political
economy fall short in describing inequality dynamics. Contrary to these models, I find that a) the
rich and poor react similarly to inequality as their economic evaluations
deteriorate; b) economic evaluations matter most as heuristics for those with
ambivalent opinions on the income gap; and c) attitudes on inequality
demonstrate meaningful variation over the short-run. My analysis underscores the existence of a
“redistribution paradox,” whereby the periods that produce the greatest intolerance
amongst citizens for income inequality are also the periods during which the
economic resources needed to close the income gap are most scarce.