Preferences for Inequality: East vs. West. Innocenti Working Papers.

Do preferences for income inequality differ systematically between the post-socialist countries of central and eastern Europe and the western established market economies? Analyzing 1999 data from a large international survey to address this question, the paper examines whether attitudes to inequality differ between east and west even after the conventional determinants of attitudes are controlled. Results suggest that this is the case. A decade after the breakdown of communism, people in transition countries are significantly more egalitarian than those living in the west, in the sense that they are less willing to tolerate existing income inequalities, even after the actual level of income inequality and other determinants of attitudes are taken into account. Results do not seem to be driven by a recent change in attitudes due to a rapid rise in inequality during transition but appear to constitute an attitudinal legacy carried over from socialism. This has important implications for the political support of reform policy, particularly for the political feasibility of future welfare state reforms in these countries. (Contains 32 notes, 30 references, and 7 tables. Additional tables are appended.) (BT)