Social mobility and the demand for income redistribution in Latin America

Abstract

Alesina and Angeletos (2005) and Alesina and Glaeser (2004) argue that income redistribution preferences vary systematically between the different regions and influence the size of government and the composition of public spending. This article analyses the demand for redistribution in Latin America, paying particular attention to the effects of mobility expectations on this demand. The findings suggest that demand for redistribution is driven primarily by self-interest and by considerations of fairness based on the inequality of opportunities. They also reveal the importance of past mobility, while the prospect of upward mobility (POUM) hypothesis advanced by Benabou and Ok (2001) is rejected in the case of the Latin America region.