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Does income transparency affect support for redistribution? Evidence from Finland’s tax day




TekijätDunaiski, Maurice; Tukiainen, Janne

KustantajaUniversity of Chicago Press

Julkaisuvuosi2024

JournalJournal of Politics

Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimiThe Journal of Politics

ISSN0022-3816

eISSN1468-2508

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/732955

Verkko-osoitehttps://doi.org/10.1086/732955

Rinnakkaistallenteen osoitehttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/477861768


Tiivistelmä

This paper examines whether income transparency - the public release of citizens’ income information - affects support for redistribution. We leverage a quasi-experiment in Finland, where every year on the so-called tax day, the authorities release income information on Finland’s top earners to the public. To identify causal effects we compare respondents who took part in the European Social Survey shortly before and after the event. We find that the tax day increases perceptions that earnings of the top 10% are unfair, but that public support for redistribution remains largely unaffected. A notable exception are top earners, who decrease their support for redistribution, and young people, who increase their support for redistribution. Our results highlight the scope conditions of previous experimental studies, and suggest that increasing exposure to inequality through a real-world policy, rather than experimental treatments, may trigger only marginal changes in support for redistribution.



Last updated on 2025-27-01 at 19:33