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  • January 2011
  • Article
  • Perspectives on Psychological Science

Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile at a Time

By: Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:4
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Abstract

Disagreements about the optimal level of wealth inequality underlie policy debates ranging from taxation to welfare. We attempt to insert the desires of "regular" Americans into these debates, by asking a nationally representative online panel to estimate the current distribution of wealth in the United States and to "build a better America" by constructing distributions with their ideal level of inequality. First, respondents dramatically underestimated the current level of wealth inequality. Second, respondents constructed ideal wealth distributions that were far more equitable than even their erroneously low estimates of the actual distribution. Most important from a policy perspective, we observed a surprising level of consensus: All demographic groups—even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution such as Republicans and the wealthy—desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo.

Keywords

Taxation; Policy; Perspective; Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Income; Demography; Debates; Welfare; Diversity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States

Citation

Norton, Michael I., and Dan Ariely. "Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile at a Time." Perspectives on Psychological Science 6, no. 1 (January 2011): 9–12.
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About The Author

Michael I. Norton

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions By: Michael Norton
  • Irrationality in Action: Decision-Making Exercise By: Alison Wood Brooks, Michael I. Norton and Oliver Hauser
  • Laughter on Call: Injecting Conversational Levity By: Alison Wood Brooks, Michael Norton and F Katelynn Boland
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