@article{mijs_how_2021,
	title = {How {Information} {About} {Economic} {Inequality} {Impacts} {Belief} in {Meritocracy}: {Evidence} from a {Randomized} {Survey} {Experiment} in {Australia}, {Indonesia} and {Mexico}},
	volume = {67},
	url = {https://www.jonathanmijs.com/s/Mijs-Hoy-2020-How-information-impacts-belief-in-meritocracy-preprint.pdf},
	abstract = {Most people misperceive economic inequality. Learning about actual levels of inequality and
social mobility, research suggests, heightens concerns but may push people’s policy preferences
in any number of directions. This mixed empirical record, we argue, reflects the omission of a
more fundamental question: under what conditions do people change their understanding of the
meritocratic or non-meritocratic causes of inequality? To explore mechanisms of belief change
we field a unique randomized survey experiment with representative populations in Australia,
Indonesia, and Mexico—societies with varying levels of and popular beliefs about economic
inequality. Our results highlight the importance of information, perceived social position, and
self-interest. In Indonesia, information describing (high) income inequality and (low) social
mobility rocked our participants’ belief in meritocracy. The same information made less of a
splash in Mexico, where unequal outcomes are commonly understood as the result of corruption
and other non-meritocratic processes. In Australia, the impact of our information treatment was
strongest when it provided justification for people’s income position or when it corrected their
perception of relative affluence. Our findings reveal asymmetric beliefs about poverty and
wealth and heterogeneous responses to information. They are a call to rethink effective
informational and policy interventions.},
	author = {Mijs, Jonathan J B and Hoy, Christopher},
	year = {2021},
}

{"_id":"Gc67xLuMFs38Zf9qn","bibbaseid":"mijs-hoy-howinformationabouteconomicinequalityimpactsbeliefinmeritocracyevidencefromarandomizedsurveyexperimentinaustraliaindonesiaandmexico-2021","author_short":["Mijs, J. J B","Hoy, C."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","title":"How Information About Economic Inequality Impacts Belief in Meritocracy: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment in Australia, Indonesia and Mexico","volume":"67","url":"https://www.jonathanmijs.com/s/Mijs-Hoy-2020-How-information-impacts-belief-in-meritocracy-preprint.pdf","abstract":"Most people misperceive economic inequality. Learning about actual levels of inequality and social mobility, research suggests, heightens concerns but may push people’s policy preferences in any number of directions. This mixed empirical record, we argue, reflects the omission of a more fundamental question: under what conditions do people change their understanding of the meritocratic or non-meritocratic causes of inequality? To explore mechanisms of belief change we field a unique randomized survey experiment with representative populations in Australia, Indonesia, and Mexico—societies with varying levels of and popular beliefs about economic inequality. Our results highlight the importance of information, perceived social position, and self-interest. In Indonesia, information describing (high) income inequality and (low) social mobility rocked our participants’ belief in meritocracy. The same information made less of a splash in Mexico, where unequal outcomes are commonly understood as the result of corruption and other non-meritocratic processes. In Australia, the impact of our information treatment was strongest when it provided justification for people’s income position or when it corrected their perception of relative affluence. Our findings reveal asymmetric beliefs about poverty and wealth and heterogeneous responses to information. They are a call to rethink effective informational and policy interventions.","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Mijs"],"firstnames":["Jonathan","J","B"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Hoy"],"firstnames":["Christopher"],"suffixes":[]}],"year":"2021","bibtex":"@article{mijs_how_2021,\n\ttitle = {How {Information} {About} {Economic} {Inequality} {Impacts} {Belief} in {Meritocracy}: {Evidence} from a {Randomized} {Survey} {Experiment} in {Australia}, {Indonesia} and {Mexico}},\n\tvolume = {67},\n\turl = {https://www.jonathanmijs.com/s/Mijs-Hoy-2020-How-information-impacts-belief-in-meritocracy-preprint.pdf},\n\tabstract = {Most people misperceive economic inequality. Learning about actual levels of inequality and\nsocial mobility, research suggests, heightens concerns but may push people’s policy preferences\nin any number of directions. This mixed empirical record, we argue, reflects the omission of a\nmore fundamental question: under what conditions do people change their understanding of the\nmeritocratic or non-meritocratic causes of inequality? To explore mechanisms of belief change\nwe field a unique randomized survey experiment with representative populations in Australia,\nIndonesia, and Mexico—societies with varying levels of and popular beliefs about economic\ninequality. Our results highlight the importance of information, perceived social position, and\nself-interest. In Indonesia, information describing (high) income inequality and (low) social\nmobility rocked our participants’ belief in meritocracy. The same information made less of a\nsplash in Mexico, where unequal outcomes are commonly understood as the result of corruption\nand other non-meritocratic processes. In Australia, the impact of our information treatment was\nstrongest when it provided justification for people’s income position or when it corrected their\nperception of relative affluence. Our findings reveal asymmetric beliefs about poverty and\nwealth and heterogeneous responses to information. They are a call to rethink effective\ninformational and policy interventions.},\n\tauthor = {Mijs, Jonathan J B and Hoy, Christopher},\n\tyear = {2021},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Mijs, J. J B","Hoy, C."],"key":"mijs_how_2021","id":"mijs_how_2021","bibbaseid":"mijs-hoy-howinformationabouteconomicinequalityimpactsbeliefinmeritocracyevidencefromarandomizedsurveyexperimentinaustraliaindonesiaandmexico-2021","role":"author","urls":{"Paper":"https://www.jonathanmijs.com/s/Mijs-Hoy-2020-How-information-impacts-belief-in-meritocracy-preprint.pdf"},"metadata":{"authorlinks":{}}},"bibtype":"article","biburl":"https://bibbase.org/zotero/jciturras","dataSources":["hCzqe8uvab8PXPj5n"],"keywords":[],"search_terms":["information","economic","inequality","impacts","belief","meritocracy","evidence","randomized","survey","experiment","australia","indonesia","mexico","mijs","hoy"],"title":"How Information About Economic Inequality Impacts Belief in Meritocracy: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment in Australia, Indonesia and Mexico","year":2021}