Happiness Scholarship and Redistributive Preferences

Despite a steep rise in income inequality over the past five decades, Americans’ preferences for redistribution have remained stagnant. Previous research suggests that redistributive are rooted stable institutional and cultural contexts but can change with exposure to information. We investigate role of understandings link between psychological well-being shaping policy preferences. Further, we consider whether effects differ if similar information is framed terms disadvantages poor versus advantages affluent. In large, preregistered online experiment (N = 2,751), examined three common themes scholarship on happiness well-being: Money Prevents Unhappiness, Provides Happiness, Doesn’t Matter. Results show learning Unhappiness (versus other two themes) increased egalitarian Effects were moderated by political ideology, income, subjective social class not race. discuss implications these findings light current discourse about happiness, which often privileges non-income causes positive emotions.