Is success determined by forces outside our control?
“Is success determined by forces outside our control?”
United States | 32% YES – 65% NO – 3% N/A
France | 53% YES – 45% NO – 2% N/A
Italy | 65% YES – 32% NO – 3% N/A
Germany | 67% YES – 32% NO – 1% N/A
The following interpretation seems plausible: In the United States the average rich person approves of redistribution because she perceives her attained status as precarious and therefore wants a social safety net to be provided just in case she needs it. In Europe it’s the average poor person who favors redistrbution because he doesn’t believe he has the opportunity to move up.
That pattern could explain why redistribution in America is much more efficiently directed toward the needy than it is in Europe. To simplify matters a bit: The well-to-do in the United States want to be insured against the consequences of, say, a job loss. Therefore, they have an interest in welfare measures that actually help those in need. Not so in continental Europe: When the rich feel secure in their status, they have no interest in a top-to-bottom redistribution. Instead they will see to it that money taken by the state from their left pocket is channeled right back into their right pocket.
Stats from Pew Research Center 2003 – Interpretation from Olaf Gersemann’s “Cowboy Capitalism”
