Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:34:41.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Just Don’t Call it a Tax! Framing in an Experiment on Voting and Redistribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2017

Jan Lorenz ,
Fabian Paetzel  and
Markus Tepe
Jan Lorenz
Affiliation:
Bremen International Graduate School for Social Sciences, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen, Germany, e-mail: [email protected]
Fabian Paetzel
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Social Science, Helmut Schmidt University, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany, e-mail: [email protected]
Markus Tepe
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany, e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Utilizing a simplified version of the Meltzer–Richard redistribution mechanism, we designed a laboratory experiment to test whether it matters if voters were asked to decide on a tax rate or a minimum income, leaving the redistribution mechanism itself unchanged. Framing the vote about redistribution as a decision about a minimal income increases the individually and ideally preferred level of redistribution. This effect outlives the groups’ deliberation processes and leads to the implementation of a higher level of redistribution.

Keywords

Redistributionvotingframinglaboratory experimentminimal incometaxation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , Winter 2017 , pp. 183 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alesina, Alberto and Giuliano, Paola. 2011. “Preferences for Redistribution.” In Handbook of Social Economics (pp. 93–132), eds. Benhabib, Jess, Bisin, Alberto, and Jackson, Matthew O.. North Holland, Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin, Beramendi, Pablo, and Wibbels, Erik. 2013. “The Behavioral Foundations of Social Politics: Evidence from Surveys and a Laboratory Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies 46 (10): 1155–1189. doi: 10.1177/0010414012472467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Camerer, Colin. 2003. Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Chong, Dennis and Druckman, James N.. 2007. “Framing Theory.” doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.072805.103054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cubitt, Robin P., Drouvelis, Michalis, and Gächter, Simon. 2011. “Framing and Free Riding: Emotional Responses and Punishment in Social Dilemma Games.” Experimental Economics 14 (2): 254–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. “An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy.” The Journal of Political Economy 65 (2): 135–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esarey, Justin, Salmon, Timothy C., and Barrilleaux, Charles. 2012a. “Social Insurance and Income Redistribution in a Laboratory Experiment.” Political Research Quarterly 65 (3): 685–698. doi: 10.1177/1065912911411096.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esarey, Justin, Salmon, Timothy C., and Barrilleaux, Charles. 2012b. “What Motivates Political Preferences? Self-Interest, Ideology, and Fairness in a Laboratory Democracy.” Economic Inquiry 50 (3): 604–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, Urs. 2007. “z-Tree: Zurich Toolbox for Ready-Made Economic Experiments.” Experimental Economics 10 (2): 171–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, Norman and Oppenheimer, Joe A.. 1990. “Choosing Justice in Experimental Democracies with Production.” American Political Science Review 84 (2): 461–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, Norman and Oppenheimer, Joe A.. 1992. Choosing Justice. An Experimental Approach to Ethical Theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, Oppenheimer, Joe A., and Eavey, Cheryl L.. 1987a. “Laboratory Results on Rawls’s Distributive Justice.” British Journal of Political Science 17 (1): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, Oppenheimer, Joe A., and Eavey, Cheryl L.. 1987b. “Choices of Principles of Distributive Justice in Experimental Groups.” American Journal of Political Science 31 (3): 606–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greiner, Ben. 2015. “Subject Pool Recruitment Procedures: Organizing Experiments with Orsee.” Journal of the Economic Science Association 1 (1): 114–125. ISSN . doi: 10.1007/s40881-015-0004-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsanyi, John C. 1955. “Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility.” Journal of Political Economy 63 (4): 309–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Höchtl, Wolfgang, Sausgruber, Rupert, and Tyran, Jean-Robert. 2012. “Inequality Aversion and Voting on Redistribution.” European Economic Review 56 (7): 1406–1421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inglehart, Ronald and Klingemann, Hans-Dieter. 1976. “Party Identification, Ideological Preferences and the Left-Right Dimension Among Western Publics.” In Party Identification and Beyond. Representations of Voting and Party Competition, eds. Budge, I., Crewe, I., and Farlie, D. (pp. 243–273). London: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Kerschbamer, Rudolf. 2015. The Geometry of Distributional Preferences and a Non-Parametric Identification Approach: The Equality Equivalence Test. European Economic Review 76 (C): 85–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kittel, Bernhard, Paetzel, Fabian, and Traub, Stefan. 2015. “Competition, Income Distribution, and the Middle Class: An Experimental Study.” Journal of Applied Mathematics 501: ID 303912.Google Scholar
Konow, James. 2003. “Which is the Fairest One of All? A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories.” Journal of Economic Literature 41 (4): 1188–1239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konow, James. 2009. “Is Fairness in the Eye of the Beholder? An Impartial Spectator Analysis of Justice.” Social Choice and Welfare 33 (1): 101–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lorenz, Jan, Paetzel, Fabian, and Tepe, Markus. 2015. “Experimental Data: Framing in an Experiment on Voting and Redistribution.” Harvard Dataverse, V3 [UNF:6:bnILA1zioGAF+wEFoffltQ==].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, Allan H. and Richard, Scott F.. 1981. “A Rational Theory of the Size of Government.” Journal of Political Economy 89 (5): 914–927.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelbach, Philip A., Scott, John T., Matland, Richard E., and Bornstein, Brian H.. 2003. “Doing Rawls Justice: An Experimental Study on Distribution Norms.” American Journal of Political Science 47 (3): 523–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saito, Kota. 2013. “Social Preferences Under Risk: Equality of Opportunity Versus Equality of Outcome.” The American Economic Review 103 (7): 3084–3101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1976. Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Seidl, Christian and Traub, Stefan. 2001. “Taxpayers’ Attitudes, Behavior, and Perception of Fairness.” Pacific Economic Review 6 (2): 255–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traub, Stefan, Seidl, Christian, and Schmidt, Ulrich. 2009. “An Experimental Study on Individual Choice, Social welfare, and Social Preferences.” European Economic Review 53 (4): 385–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traub, Stefan, Seidl, Christian, Schmidt, Ulrich, and Levati, Maria Vittoria. 2005. “Friedman, Harsanyi, Rawls, Boulding–or Somebody Else? An Experimental Investigation of Distributive Justice.” Social Choice and Welfare 24 (2): 283–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willinger, Marc and Ziegelmeyer, Anthony. 1999. “Framing and Cooperation in Public Good Games: An Experiment with an Interior Solution.” Economics Letters 65 (3): 323–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar