In a world marked by vast inequalities in income and wealth, citizen demand for redistribution plays a decisive role, especially in democracies. My research investigates how individuals perceive inequality, assess its fairness, and form preferences over taxation and redistribution. Using a variety of survey experiments, conjoint analyses, and cross-national data, I explore how objective measures of inequality, subjective perceptions, and policy beliefs relate and shape preferences. My research attests to the importance of horizontal inequality, i.e. income gaps between social groups, the historical origins of wealth, and diverging elite-citizens beliefs about the economic impact of progressive taxation. It highlights temporal dynamics of perception-preference linkages, and explores them in the context of international inequality and redistribution. I also study how policy design alters and polarizes attitudes towards novel redistributive policies, such as UBI. In sum, my research advances our understanding of when and why citizens demand that governments enact redistributive policies.
Who wants What, and Why? Understanding Support and Opposition to UBI
Bastian Becker and Hanna Schwander
Journal of European Social Policy, OnlineFirst, 2025
[DOI] [DATA]
Taxing your cake and growing it too: public beliefs on the dual benefits of progressive taxation
Bastian Becker, Bruno Castanho Silva, and Hanna Lierse
Journal of Public Policy, FirstView, 2025
[DOI] [DATA]
Undeserving Heirs: How the Origins of Wealth Shape Attitudes Towards Redistribution
Bastian Becker and Nora Waitkus
European Societies, 27(5), 2025
[DOI] [DATA]
International Inequality and Demand for Redistribution in the Global South
Bastian Becker
Political Science Research and Methods, 12(2), 2024
[DOI]
Caught in the Middle! Wealth Inequality and Conflict over Redistribution
Hanna Lierse, Davy Lascombes, and Bastian Becker
Social Justice Research, 35, 2022
[DOI]
Significant Others? Social Groups, Income Expectations, and Redistributive Preferences
Bastian Becker
Social Science Research, 100, 2022
[DOI]
Temporal Change in Inequality Perceptions and Effects on Political Attitudes
Bastian Becker
Political Research Exchange, 3(1), 2021
[DOI] [PDF]
Mind the Income Gaps? Experimental Evidence of Information's Lasting Effect on Redistributive Preferences
Bastian Becker
Social Justice Research, 33(2), 2020
[DOI] [PDF] [DATA]
Taxes to the Rescue: Economic Crises and Demand for Big Government
Bastian Becker and Bruno Castanho Silva
[revise&resubmit]
Income taxation equips governments with a powerful instrument to address economic crises. However, surprisingly little is known about how individuals adjust their tax preferences in response to such crises. In this paper we present results from a priming experiment, fielded in Germany (n=1,376), that alternatively increases the salience of an economic downturn and rising inequality. Attitudes towards tax levels and progressivity are measured with a novel visual conjoint design. We find that priming either economic crisis reduces opposition to tax increases but does not alter support for progressivity. Our findings show that economic crises can enlarge governments' room to maneuver as demand for big government increases. This effect is driven by left-leaning individuals, but contrary to widely held beliefs, right-leaning individuals do not become more opposed to taxes when the economy is in crisis.