Misperceptions and mismeasurements

Working Paper 2017-449

Abstract

This paper focuses on an important aspect of economic inequality – the question of how people perceive inequality and whether these perceptions deviate in any meaningful way from statistical measures of inequality. Using a novel approach I investigate whether individuals across different countries are able to correctly estimate the shape of income distribution of the country where they reside. I find that perceptions of inequality are frequently shaped by reference groups such

Authors: Aboozar Hadavand.