Inequality and conspiracy beliefs-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Inequality and conspiracy beliefs

Published:2024-01-03 Issue: Volume: Page:
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Author:

Becchetti Leonardo¹,Bellucci Davide¹,Pisani Fabio²

Affiliation:

1. University of Rome Tor Vergata

2. Mercatorum University

Abstract

Around one third of Europeans are conspiracy believers. Using European Social Survey data, we find that income inequality is an important driver of political, scientific and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, with regional inequality being positively and significantly correlated with conspiracy beliefs at individual level. Believers argue significantly more that the local government should address income inequality problems, while it is not doing enough for them. Furthermore, average sample moods about government commitment on inequality at regional level are significantly and positively correlated with conspiracy beliefs, even after controlling for individual opinions. Instrumental variable approaches suggest that the observed correlation hides a causality link. Our findings identify a novel underinvestigated effect of income inequality and suggest another positive effect of policies aimed at reducing it. JEL numbers: A13, A14.

Publisher

Research Square Platform LLC

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