Attitudes to Equality : The "Socialist Legacy" Revisited

It is routinely assumed that residents of post-socialist countries have a preference for greater income equality, other things being equal, owing to the legacy of socialism. This proposition is examined in the context of Eastern Europe and the for...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Murthi, Mamta, Tiongson, Erwin R.
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY ADVANCED ECONOMIES ADVANCED ECONOMY ATTITUDES TO INCOME AVERAGE INCOME BASIC NEEDS CALCULATIONS COLLECTIVE COUNTRY DUMMIES COUNTRY LEVEL CROSS-COUNTRY COMPARISONS DEPENDENT VARIABLE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DIFFERENCES IN INCOME DISTRIBUTIVE POLITICS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT ECONOMIC POLICY ECONOMIC REVIEW EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT EGALITARIAN DISTRIBUTION EMPIRICAL RESULTS EMPLOYEE EMPLOYMENT STATUS EQUAL COUNTRIES EQUAL DISTRIBUTION EQUALITY ETHNIC GROUPS EXPLANATORY VARIABLE GDP GENDER GENDER DIFFERENCES GINI COEFFICIENT GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS INCOME INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROUP INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME LEVEL INCOME REDISTRIBUTION INCOME SOURCE INCOMES INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES INDIVIDUALS INEQUALITIES INEQUALITY INEQUALITY AVERSION INSTALLMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK INVESTIGATION JOB INSECURITY LABOR FORCE LABOR MARKET LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE LIMITED LOW-INCOME LOWER INCOME MARKET ECONOMIES MARKET ECONOMY MEASURED INEQUALITY MEDIAN VOTER MEDIAN VOTER HYPOTHESIS OLDER PEOPLE PENSIONS PER CAPITA INCOME POLICY REFORMS POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INSTABILITY POSITIVE CORRELATION POVERTY REDUCTION PRIMARY EDUCATION PUBLIC CHOICE PUBLIC ECONOMICS PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SPENDING RECESSION REGRESSION ANALYSIS REGRESSION SAMPLE RELATIVE INCOME REMITTANCES RETIRED SECONDARY EDUCATION SOCIAL INEQUALITY SOCIAL JUSTICE SOCIAL PROGRAMS SOCIETIES SOCIETY UNEMPLOYED UNION WAGE WAGE INEQUALITY WELFARE BENEFITS WELFARE STATE WESTERN EUROPE YOUNGER PEOPLE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/02/9031405/attitudes-equality-socialist-legacy-revisited http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6585

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Summary:	It is routinely assumed that residents of post-socialist countries have a preference for greater income equality, other things being equal, owing to the legacy of socialism. This proposition is examined in the context of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union using data from three waves of the World Values Survey. Contrary to expectations, the authors find little evidence of a 'socialist legacy' en bloc. Considering the former Soviet Union separately from other post-socialist countries, the analysis finds that as a group these countries display significantly lower preference for moving toward greater income equality than both Eastern Europe and other comparator groups (developed and developing countries). These findings hold up even when controlling for the conventional determinants of attitudes such as income level and employment status of the individual respondent, as well as national factors such as per-capita income and its distribution. Moreover, the preference for greater income inequality appears to have persisted at least since the mid-1990s and possibly since the early 1990s (data difficulties preclude a robust examination of this latter question). The results are consistent with the fairly low levels of public spending on redistribution commonly found in the former Soviet Union.

Attitudes to Equality : The "Socialist Legacy" Revisited

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