Individual, household and gender preferences for social transfers

This paper reports the results of a nationally representative survey that explored willingness to pay extra taxes for increased levels of social transfers in Ireland. Respondents differ in their interpretation of willingness-to-pay questions with respect to the relevant income constraint being the individual’s budget or the individual’s household budget, with an important explanatory variable in this interpretation being the level of financial management integration within the household. Respondents are also shown to take intra-household bargaining considerations into account when stating preferences for specific redistributive policies; a significant gender difference emerges for a specific fiscal policy (child benefit) which alters the intra-household entitlement to income.