H2020Индивидуална стипендия2020–2022

merit · The impact of redistribution policies on inequality tolerance and beliefs in meritocracy

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2020-08-01 → 2022-07-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 175 572 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Причините за „парадокса на неравенството“ се изследват чрез сравнение между вярата в заслугите и липсата на политическо влияние у бедните. Това помага да се разбере защо хората често толерират икономическото неравенство, дори когато са пострадали от него.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

The impact of redistribution policies on inequality tolerance and beliefs in meritocracy

Growing economic inequality worldwide is characterized as one of the main challenges of our time with pervasive societal consequences. Despite the rampant inequality, people often tolerate and even support low levels of redistribution. This divergence represents a paradox especially for the poor who are harmed by economic inequality. The absence of popular concern about growing inequality is a major explanatory factor for the longevity and escalating trend of inequality. In this respect, the benchmark accomplishment of this project is to provide novel insights into the antecedents of the inequality paradox. In addition, the expected output may have profound implications for understanding reactions to inequality in organizational settings. Low-status employees often compete with each other to climb up the organizational ladder but may also collectively experience injustice or inequality, which create the need for collective action. The project has two main objectives: 1. The main aim of this project is to provide a comprehensive examination of plausible explanations of the inequality paradox. In this effort, we compare a dominant approach that focuses on ideological factors such as the endorsement of meritocratic beliefs and optimistic view about the prospects of upward mobility with sociostructural factors such as the inability of disadvantaged individuals (i.e., low political efficacy) to collectively reduce inequality. 2. In the attempt to address the aforementioned questions, this project will also provide novel contributions regarding the extent to which powerless individuals justify the economic inequality in an attempt to reduce the cognitive dissonance between their fairness perceptions and their behavior.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Despite the growing economic inequality, there is no evidence of growing public demand for wealth redistribution. One proposed explanation for this paradox is the popular belief that inequality is the outcome of a fair process where societal success reflects talent and effort. Across countries, the popularity of these meritocratic beliefs bears no relationship to the actual social mobility and is associated with increased levels of within-country inequality. On the other hand, these beliefs negatively correlate with the extent of social spending and redistribution in each country. In light of this correlational evidence, this project employ an experimental approach to investigate the potential role of redistribution policies in the formation of biased meritocratic beliefs and the psychological mechanisms that underlie this process. Building on research in Psychology and Economics, I first examine whether the absence of redistribution incentivizes agents to become more tolerant of inequality. Drawing on the theory of cognitive dissonance, I then explore whether high inequality tolerance leads to endorsement of meritocratic beliefs. After establishing the role of redistribution on beliefs, I use functional neuroimaging to shed light on the neurocognitive mechanisms that underlie the formation of biased beliefs. Overall, this research tries to address a long-standing question about the psychological processes that lead to inequality tolerance and fits the EU priorities of a deeper and fairer economic Union. My strong background in Neuroscience, combined with my supervisor’s extensive expertise in Behavioral Economics and the excellent training environment at UM guarantee the success of this project. This project will critically contribute to my development as an independent researcher in the field of Neuroeconomics and Behavioral Economics and will allow me to forge a new collaborative research line at the MPE.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT · MaastrichtКоординаторНидерландия