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Attitudes to Income Inequality and Preferences for Redistribution in Turkey

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Part of the book series: Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics ((EBES,volume 2/1))

Abstract

We estimate the determinants of individuals’ inequality aversion and preferences for redistribution in Turkey using the 2007 and 2011 World Values Survey data. Our results show that factors as predictors of opposing inequality and supporting redistribution in both surveys are dissatisfaction with the financial situation of the household, being on the left side of the political scale, belief that hard work brings a better life, and the opposite of this belief as well. According to the 2011 survey, being woman, being self-employed, belonging to lower class, living in poorer East Central Anatolia region and in Central Anatolia are associated with increased opposition to inequality and support for redistribution. The odds of supporting redistribution decrease for people living in the Aegean region according to both the surveys. For 2007, being in the highest income category relative to the middle is associated with a decreased opposition to inequality and support for redistribution. As for the impact of living in a specific region, besides Aegean region, for 2007, coefficients indicate a decrease in the odds for the following regions: North Eastern Anatolia, Eastern Marmara, Central Anatolia and Western Black Sea.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, for the year 2006, public tax auditors reported that 65.3 % of due direct taxes had been evaded and/or avoided (http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2007/05/03/haber).

  2. 2.

    “One of the assumptions underlying ordered logistic (and ordered probit) regression is that the relationship between each pair of outcome groups is the same. This is called the proportional odds assumption or the parallel regression assumption. Because the relationship between all pairs of groups is the same, there is only one set of coefficients (only one model). If this was not the case, we would need different models to describe the relationship between each pair of outcome groups.” If the proportional odds assumption is violated, the model needs to be run as a generalized ordered logistic model (Institute for Digital Research and Education (idre) UCLA: Statistical Consulting Group 2012, accessed 20 December 2012).

  3. 3.

    By equalizing values from 1 to 5 of the dependent variable to 1, and values from 6 to 10 to 0. These results are available upon request.

  4. 4.

    Technical Specifications for Turkey of the WVS, available at: http://www.wvsevsdb.com.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Galatasaray University Scientific Research Projects Fund under the Project code 14.103.001.

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Correspondence to Ayfer Karayel .

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Karayel, A. (2016). Attitudes to Income Inequality and Preferences for Redistribution in Turkey. In: Bilgin, M., Danis, H., Demir, E., Can, U. (eds) Business Challenges in the Changing Economic Landscape - Vol. 1. Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics, vol 2/1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22596-8_24

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