La escasa evidencia indica que, en EEUU, los individuos del 1 % de mayor ingreso o riqueza presentan un menor apoyo a la redistribución que el resto de la población, lo que puede generar problemas democráticos ya que existe evidencia de que los individuos de mayor ingreso o riqueza ejercen una desproporcionada influencia en el proceso político. Los modelos desarrollados desde la economía sugieren que esta relación es esperable, dado que a medida que aumenta el ingreso, se reducen las ganancias individuales esperadas de las políticas redistributivas, en términos de ingreso. Sin embargo, la literatura ha documentado que existen otras razones, además del ingreso, por las cuales los individuos forman sus preferencias redistributivas. En particular, existen argumentos para pensar que los individuos de mayor ingreso o riqueza pueden compartir un conjunto de valores, creencias y aspectos comportamentales que los diferencian del resto de la población y los lleva a apoyar menores niveles de redistribución. A partir de un diseño novedoso que permite combinar registros tributarios con una Encuesta de Preferencias Sociales y Económicas, este trabajo se propone estudiar las preferencias re- distributivas de un conjunto de individuos pertenecientes al 1 % de trabajadores de mayores ingresos formales de Uruguay y compararlas con las de un grupo de individuos que se ubica inmediatamente por debajo del top 1 % y por encima de la mediana del ingreso. Se encuentra que los individuos del top 1 % apoyan menores niveles de redistribución, y que no todas las diferencias pueden asociarse al nivel de ingreso o a características socio demográficas. Para investigar que otros factores podrían estar asociados a explicar dichas diferencias, se explora el rol de un conjunto de aspectos comportamentales medidos a partir de juegos de laboratorio incentivados y el de un conjunto de percepciones, creencias y nociones de justicia capturada.

The limited evidence regarding top incomes and preferences for redistribution indicates that, in the United States, individuals within the top 1% of income or wealth present less support for redistribution than the rest of the population. Democratic problems can arise from this since there is evidence that individuals with higher income or wealth exert a disproportionate influence on the political process. The economic models suggest that this relationship is to be expected, given that as income increases, the expected individual gains from redistributive policies decrease in terms of income. However, the literature has documented other channels, in addition to income, that explain how individuals form their redistributive preferences. In particular, there are arguments to think that individuals with higher income or wealth may share a set of values, beliefs, and behavioral aspects that differentiate them from the rest of the population and lead them to support lower levels of redistribution. Using novel data that combines tax records with a survey of social and economic preferences, this work aims to study the redistributive preferences of a set of workers belonging to the top 1% of formal earnings in Uruguay and compare them with those of workers that are above the median and immediately below the top 1%. It can be concluded that individuals in the top 1% support lower levels of redistribution and that not all differences can be associated with income level or sociodemographic characteristics. To inquire what other factors could be explaining these differences, I aim to explore the role of behavioral aspects measured from incentivized laboratory games, and that of perceptions, beliefs, and notions of justice captured through survey questions. The results suggest: (i) behavioral aspects seem to play a minor role in explaining differences in redistributive preferences; (ii) individuals from the top 1% share a set of beliefs, perceptions, and notions of justice that differentiate them from the lower-income group; and (iii) this particular set of beliefs, perceptions, and notions of justice is associated with a large part of the differences in support for redistribution observed between these two groups. In particular, the factors that are most associated with differences in support for redistribution between these two groups are the political ideology, beliefs about effort vs. luck in the income-generating process, and visions about the government.