Revealed social preferences of Dutch political parties

B. Jacobs, E.L.W. Jongen, F.T. Zoutman

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

© 2017 Elsevier B.V.We measure the redistributive preferences of Dutch political parties using unique, detailed information from their election proposals. By employing the inverse optimal-tax method, we calculate the political weights across the income distribution for each political party. We find that all Dutch political parties give a higher political weight to middle incomes than to the poor. Moreover, the political weights of the rich are close to zero. Furthermore, we detect a strong political status quo bias as the political weights of all political parties hardly deviate from the weights implied by the pre-existing tax system. We argue that political-economy considerations are key in understanding these results.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)81-100
JournalJournal of Public Economics
Volume156
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2017
Externally publishedYes

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