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<p>We study the relationship between perceived income inequality and subjective well-being. Individuals are often unaware of the level of and trends in income inequality in their countries. As a result, <i>perceived</i> inequality may matter for subjective well-being above and beyond <i>actual</i> inequality measures. Leveraging data on 33 countries from the 2016 Life in Transition Survey, which includes unique information on individuals' perceived inequality changes, we find that these perceptions matter for life satisfaction. Individuals who believe that inequality has increased in the previous 4&#xa0;years are on average 8% less satisfied with their life (on a 1–5 scale) compared to respondents who perceive no increase in inequality. The magnitude of the estimate is sizeable, being twice as large as the influence of not working. Taking actual inequality levels and changes into account does not alter this result, suggesting that inequality perceptions matter for life satisfaction above and beyond actual inequality. Our findings survive a battery of robustness checks, including an instrumental variables approach and addressing common method variance bias. Social mobility expectations and fairness perceptions cushion but do not fully offset the negative association between perceived inequality increases and life satisfaction. Our findings imply that understanding the role of inequality perceptions can be key to improving social cohesion and individual and societal well-being.</p>

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Gini who? The relationship between inequality perceptions and life satisfaction

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月23日

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  • Daniele Marchesi,
  • Milena Nikolova,
  • Viola Angelini

摘要

We study the relationship between perceived income inequality and subjective well-being. Individuals are often unaware of the level of and trends in income inequality in their countries. As a result, perceived inequality may matter for subjective well-being above and beyond actual inequality measures. Leveraging data on 33 countries from the 2016 Life in Transition Survey, which includes unique information on individuals' perceived inequality changes, we find that these perceptions matter for life satisfaction. Individuals who believe that inequality has increased in the previous 4 years are on average 8% less satisfied with their life (on a 1–5 scale) compared to respondents who perceive no increase in inequality. The magnitude of the estimate is sizeable, being twice as large as the influence of not working. Taking actual inequality levels and changes into account does not alter this result, suggesting that inequality perceptions matter for life satisfaction above and beyond actual inequality. Our findings survive a battery of robustness checks, including an instrumental variables approach and addressing common method variance bias. Social mobility expectations and fairness perceptions cushion but do not fully offset the negative association between perceived inequality increases and life satisfaction. Our findings imply that understanding the role of inequality perceptions can be key to improving social cohesion and individual and societal well-being.