Survey of Public Preferences for Redistribution in the Market

The United States is traditionally viewed as the epitome of market capitalism and a liberal welfare state with unregulated markets, low unionization, and high economic inequality. But the standing of market institutions has suffered in recent years, due in part to the financial crisis and rising inequality. Confidence in “major companies” and “banks and financial institutions” is at its lowest point in over thirty years. According to the General Social Survey (GSS), only twelve percent of Americans had a “great deal” of confidence in major companies in 2010, as compared to an average of twenty-four percent over the 1973 to 2012 period; confidence in banks and financial institutions sank from over thirty percent in the mid-2000s to eight percent in 2010.

Despite the rise of public discontent with the private sector, we have little sense of how the public views the responsibilities and performance of corporations in addressing economic and broader societal problems. Existing surveys seldom ask questions about the perceived fairness of the market. Survey responses from over two decades ago show that, on the whole, Americans express a significant degree of skepticism about the distribution of market rewards, especially relative to their pro-market reputation; only a little more than a third agreed that “business profits are distributed fairly” and eighty percent believed that “corporations should pay more of their profits to workers and less to shareholders”. The same may be said of perceptions of economic opportunity; Americans are as or more likely than individuals in other Western countries to view “coming from a wealthy family” and “knowing the right people” as essential or very important factors in getting ahead. These rarely noted patterns suggest that, to many Americans, the market does not always resemble a level playing field as premised by the American dream ideology.

Leslie McCall, Jonas Edlund and Arvid Backstrom will examine the notion, implicit in much of the existing literature, that citizens’ concerns for economic security and social justice are manifested only in demands for state redistribution. Research indicates that there are good reasons to believe that many citizens think that market institutions and market actors ought to engage in practices that foster greater equality, redistribution, and social responsibility as well. As citizens’ views on the proper mix and balance of state and market policies may vary across countries depending on the distinctive roles that these institutions play in each society, the investigator will compare the U.S. and Sweden. In particular, the researchers expect that Americans’ pro-market views will lead them to trust market institutions more than government institutions to reduce inequality, and vice versa in Sweden. However, ambivalent preliminary findings in both countries would suggest that the answer may not turn out to be that clear-cut.

Because existing surveys only ask about public attitudes toward the welfare state, the collection of new data is necessary. The researchers will add ten questions to the 2014 GSS to address the gap in knowledge about attitudes toward market institutions and how these relate to public support for redistributive policy; the same set of questions will be included in the 2014 International Social Survey in Sweden. Proposed questions include: It is the responsibility of businesses to reduce differences in pay between people with high pay and those with low pay? Which of the following groups do you think has the greatest responsibility for reducing differences in pay and income between those with high pay and income and those with low pay and income: government, business, private charities, low income individuals, high income individuals? Or, should pay and income differences remain the same? To what extent do you think that businesses in general actually do the following: Offer reasonable prices on goods and services? Offer fair pay and benefits to employees? Deal honestly with people like you?