Government Redistribution and Public Opinion: A Matter of Contention or Consensus?

Figures & data

FIGURE 1 Aggregate support for redistribution and the size of redistribution among 23 OCED countries in 2016.

Notes: Based on the author’s calculation of ISSP 2016 data for the aggregate preferences and OECD and LIS data for the inequality reduction by government (the difference of Gini coefficients between pre- and post-redistribution household incomes multiplied by 100). Country abbreviations: Chile (CL), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Hungary (HU), Iceland (IS), Israel (IL), Japan (JP), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), New Zealand (NZ), Norway (NO), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), South Korea (KR), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), Switzerland (CH), Taiwan (TW), the United Kingdom (GB), and the United States (US).

FIGURE 2 Two distinct approaches to redistributive preferences.

Notes: Three income groups are assumed to have a similar-size population. Redistributive preferences are scaled from 5 to 1, for which 5 indicates strong support for redistribution, 3 neutral, and 1 strong opposition to redistribution.

TABLE 1 Country-Specific Redistributive Cleavages in OECD Countries

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(9)
	TW	KR	IL	CL	US	DE	DK	CZ
Low income	0.100	−0.003	0.029	0.085	0.396***	0.305***	0.749***	−0.065
	(0.07)	(0.12)	(0.10)	(0.07)	(0.12)	(0.11)	(0.29)	(0.17)
Middle income	0.169***	0.053	−0.027	−0.093	−0.011	0.137*	0.485*	−0.099
	(0.06)	(0.11)	(0.07)	(0.06)	(0.11)	(0.08)	(0.26)	(0.08)
Public sector	0.003	0.151	0.106	0.110	0.081	0.064	0.385***	−0.059
	(0.08)	(0.13)	(0.07)	(0.09)	(0.10)	(0.06)	(0.10)	(0.09)
Gender	−0.043	0.084	0.045	−0.020	0.272***	0.070	0.208**	0.269***
	(0.05)	(0.08)	(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.08)	(0.06)	(0.10)	(0.08)
Union member	0.004	0.006	−0.151***	0.037	0.047	0.173***	0.147**	0.139**
	(0.03)	(0.07)	(0.04)	(0.06)	(0.12)	(0.04)	(0.07)	(0.07)
Age	−0.001	−0.005	−0.000	−0.004**	−0.009***	0.005***	0.016***	0.010***
	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)
Edu. level	−0.031	−0.022	0.029	0.010	0.045	0.117***	0.055	0.189***
	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.04)	(0.03)
Unemployed	−0.046	0.101	0.249*	0.149	0.469**	0.263**	0.145	0.085
	(0.10)	(0.23)	(0.15)	(0.10)	(0.20)	(0.13)	(0.32)	(0.19)
Urban/rural	0.036	0.042	−0.006	0.025	0.011	0.021	0.008	0.086***
	(0.02)	(0.04)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.04)	(0.02)	(0.04)	(0.03)
Marital status	0.020	−0.174	0.026	−0.001	−0.120	−0.111	−0.374***	−0.175
	(0.07)	(0.12)	(0.10)	(0.07)	(0.10)	(0.07)	(0.13)	(0.12)
Religiosity	0.005	−0.019	−0.014	0.021*	−0.040**	−0.048***	−0.005	0.019
	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.02)	(0.01)	(0.03)	(0.02)
_cons	3.833***	4.180***	4.354***	4.565***	3.782***	4.059***	2.295***	3.369***
	(0.17)	(0.26)	(0.20)	(0.15)	(0.28)	(0.18)	(0.41)	(0.24)
R^2	0.013	0.031	0.023	0.016	0.059	0.054	0.060	0.070
N	1951	1027	1134	1232	1367	1635	1019	1168

Note: Standard errors are in parentheses.

*p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

TABLE 2 Strength of Redistributive Cleavages and Government Redistribution

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
Aggregate	−0.014
support level	(0.04)
Per-capita GDP	−0.000
	(0.00)
Income cleavage		0.028
		(0.05)
Gender cleavage			0.122
			(0.1)
Cleavage by				0.198*
union membership				(0.11)
Cleavage by					0.057
employment sector					(0.11)
Cleavage by						0.660***
educ. level						(0.15)
Age cleavage							4.867***
							(1.43)
Cleavage by								0.090
employment status								(0.07)
_cons	0.217	0.140***	0.134***	0.132***	0.141***	0.101***	0.130***	0.127***
	(0.17)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.01)	(0.02)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.02)
R^2	0.008	0.014	0.068	0.135	0.012	0.468	0.356	0.080
N	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23

Note: Standard errors are in parentheses.

*p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

FIGURE 3 Size of redistribution and strength of redistributive cleavage by education level.

APPENDIX A Country-Specific Redistributive Cleavages in OECD Countries

	JP	UK	NZ	FR	CH	FI	IS	NO	SE	HU	LV	LT	SK	SI	ES
Low income	0.318**	0.530***	0.600***	0.027	0.411***	0.459***	0.188	0.400***	0.326**	0.066	0.424***	−0.171	0.186	0.178*	0.215**
	(0.13)	(0.12)	(0.14)	(0.09)	(0.12)	(0.12)	(0.15)	(0.15)	(0.17)	(0.14)	(0.12)	(0.14)	(0.14)	(0.10)	(0.09)
Middle income	0.133	0.170*	0.110	−0.231***	0.109	0.171*	−0.027	0.049	−0.102	−0.044	0.140	−0.200**	0.108	0.203***	0.084
	(0.10)	(0.09)	(0.11)	(0.08)	(0.09)	(0.10)	(0.08)	(0.11)	(0.13)	(0.08)	(0.09)	(0.08)	(0.07)	(0.06)	(0.06)
Public sector	0.147	0.097	0.096	0.343***	0.089	0.127	0.075	0.146*	0.124	0.072	0.073	0.268***	0.090	0.043	−0.037
	(0.13)	(0.09)	(0.13)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.09)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.09)	(0.07)	(0.06)	(0.08)
Gender	0.057	0.143*	0.146*	−0.024	0.098	0.261***	0.206***	0.225***	0.254***	0.109	−0.024	−0.121	0.149**	0.104*	0.042
	(0.07)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.08)	(0.07)	(0.07)	(0.09)	(0.07)	(0.08)	(0.08)	(0.07)	(0.06)	(0.05)
Union member	0.073	0.109*	0.279***	0.115**	0.019	0.117**	0.102	0.184***	0.216***	v0.108*	0.040	0.100	0.030	0.117***	0.003
	(0.05)	(0.06)	(0.07)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.05)	(0.06)	(0.05)	(0.06)	(0.06)	(0.07)	(0.08)	(0.06)	(0.05)	(0.04)
Age	0.002	0.005*	−0.001	0.006**	−0.006**	0.008***	0.012***	0.012***	0.013***	0.002	0.004	0.004	0.005**	0.003	−0.001
	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)	(0.00)
Edu. level	0.127***	0.032	0.012	0.107***	0.117***	0.138***	0.123***	0.055**	0.081***	0.030	0.064**	0.073**	0.099***	0.103***	0.047***
	(0.04)	(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)
Unemployed	0.195	0.424**	0.160	0.445***	−0.042	0.238	0.418	0.259	0.494	0.207	0.175	−0.035	0.463***	0.256**	0.105
	(0.24)	(0.21)	(0.22)	(0.17)	(0.20)	(0.15)	(0.28)	(0.21)	(0.36)	(0.17)	(0.13)	(0.15)	(0.15)	(0.11)	(0.08)
Urban/rural	0.016	0.155***	0.038	−0.070**	0.022	0.016	−0.062*	−0.006	0.059*	0.047*	0.016	−0.117***	0.005	−0.005	0.015
	(0.04)	(0.04)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.04)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.02)
Marital status	−0.134	−0.261**	−0.375***	−0.220**	−0.137	0.023	−0.129	−0.173*	−0.325***	0.100	−0.048	−0.095	0.001	−0.015	−0.042
	(0.10)	(0.11)	(0.12)	(0.09)	(0.10)	(0.09)	(0.09)	(0.10)	(0.11)	(0.10)	(0.10)	(0.11)	(0.09)	(0.08)	(0.07)
Religiosity	0.000	−0.001	0.025	−0.014	0.015	0.007	−0.010	0.017	0.043	−0.061**	0.072***	0.019	0.026*	0.003	−0.024**
	(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.03)	(0.03)	(0.02)	(0.02)	(0.01)	(0.01)	(0.01)
_cons	3.710***	3.012***	3.625***	4.608***	4.194***	3.443***	4.172***	3.391***	3.028***	3.958***	3.732***	4.694***	3.913***	4.365***	4.458***
	(0.24)	(0.28)	(0.29)	(0.22)	(0.21)	(0.21)	(0.23)	(0.21)	(0.29)	(0.23)	(0.21)	(0.23)	(0.21)	(0.18)	(0.14)
R^2	0.020	0.054	0.056	0.073	0.048	0.072	0.066	0.070	0.080	0.021	0.045	0.053	0.059	0.069	0.018
N	1474	1154	1209	1383	1052	1139	1100	1160	1031	867	979	959	1041	1011	1757