15.9.2026 - Gastvortrag von Zhengtai Liu (University of Cologne):

Talk by Zhengtai Liu (University of Cologne), Tuesday September 15, 2:00 - 3:30 pm, BIN 3.D.27.

Title: Equality Crowding-Out: Highlighting Identity Disparities Reduces Class Redistribution

Abstract:
Contemporary societies face entrenched economic inequalities - not only between classes, but also between ethnic, gender, and other identity groups. Against this backdrop, whether emphasizing identity-based inequalities complements or undermines class redistribution has attracted considerable public attention and controversy. However, causal evidence on this question remains limited. Across six preregistered experiments (N = 7,824) conducted in different countries and contexts, we find that individuals directed fewer resources towards economically lower-class recipients when class inequality was presented together with inequalities between identity groups than when the same class inequality was presented without identity information. This Equality Crowding-Out Effect occurred even though class- and identity-based redistribution could be pursued simultaneously without any objective trade-off. These findings show that people struggle to respond effectively to multidimensional economic inequalities, pointing to a fundamental psychological challenge for redistribution in modern societies.

Everyone is cordially invited!