Thursday, October 07, 2010

Survey finds Americans across the political spectrum think wealth distribution is too unequal

Harvard Business School prof Michael Norton talked about a new study of American opinions on income inequality and wealth equality on NPR this morning.

“What we find is really two things. One is that people really underestimate what the actual level of wealth inequality is in the United States right now. And then in addition to that, when we asked them how unequal would you like it to be, they want things to be even more equal than they think they are, which is really more equal than they actually are,” Norton said.

But here’s the crazy thing: most of the respondents, no matter what their political persuasion, thought things should be more equal. So what’s that about? Is it that when you don’t talk about this stuff in a political context people leave their ideology out of it? Or if it’s not coming from Fox News, conservatives don’t know how they are supposed to respond except with an answer that seems fair? I really don’t know.

Here is the transcript of the interview.

P.S. Chicago’s WBEZ was doing a pledge drive this morning and played this spot from Alec Baldwin urging listeners not to contribute.