Las preferencias por la redistribución de los españoles a comienzos del siglo xxi

Based on a survey of international literature, this paper proposes the classification of citizens’ preferences for redistribution in three categories that shape those preferences: imperatives of social justice, risk aversion and the institutional framework. With the data provided by the «Spanish Institute for Fiscal Studies Fiscal Barometer » an empirical application for the Spanish case is carried out. We use a probit model when the endogenous variable is dichotomized, and a linear model estimated through ordinary least squares when the dependent variable is an index constructed by principal components. The results, consistent with the theory and international experience, show that the preferences under study, homogeneously distributed throughout the country, are based on the three described determinants. In particular most of the variables are significantly associated with the description of the institutional framework.