Abstract

How informed are individuals about the income distribution in their own country? This article presents survey data showing that Norwegians tend to overestimate the level of inequality in Norway. This contrasts with survey data from the United States (US), presented in Norton and Ariely , showing that Americans vastly underestimate inequality in their own country. These findings are interpreted by emphasizing the effect existing differences in income have on peoples’ psychological capacity to observe income differences. Norwegians are also asked how they ideally would like income to be distributed. They construct an ideal income distribution that is surprisingly close to the actual (egalitarian) distribution in Norway. Americans also construct an ideal distribution that more closely resembles the distribution of income in Norway than in the US. Respondents’ preferences for small income differences are discussed with reference to recent findings in experimental and neurobiological research.

摘要

个人对本国收入分配的了解程度如何？本文提供的调查数据显示，挪威人倾向于高估挪威的不平等程度。这与来自美国 (US) 的调查数据（在 Norton 和 Ariely 中提供）形成鲜明对比，表明美国人大大低估了自己国家的不平等。通过强调现有收入差异对人们观察收入差异的心理能力的影响来解释这些发现。挪威人还被问及他们理想的收入分配方式。他们构建了一个与挪威实际（平均主义）分配惊人地接近的理想收入分配。美国人还构建了一个更接近于挪威的收入分配而不是美国的理想分配。