Preference for redistribution and institutional trust: Comparison before and after COVID-19
General Economics
2026-03-09 v1 Economics
Abstract
Using an individual-level panel dataset from Japan covering the period 2016-2024, we examined how the COVID-19 pandemic, as an unanticipated public crisis, affected preferences for income redistribution. Furthermore, we investigated how the association between redistribution preferences and trust in government changed before and after COVID-19. The major findings are as follows: (1) individuals in the high-income group are less likely to prefer redistribution after COVID-19 than before it; (2) the degree of decline in redistribution preference is lower when trust in government is higher; and (3) generalised trust and reciprocity did not influence the decline in preference.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.06106,
title = {Preference for redistribution and institutional trust: Comparison before and after COVID-19},
author = {Eiji Yamamura and Fumio Ohtake},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.06106},
year = {2026}
}