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When is it rational to redistribute? A cross-national examination of attitudes toward redistribution Dion, Michelle Uploaded 07-22-2010 Keywords income inequality redistribution public opinion Abstract Much political economy work on the politics of public policy and particularly redistribution builds on an assumption that individual income is negatively related to demand for redistribution. Since aggregate income inequality is not positively related to aggregate redistribution cross-nationally, various efforts seek to understand why political institutions fail to efficiently aggregate citizen preferences. This paper approaches this puzzle from a different perspective, instead seeking to understand the ways economic, social, and political context may shape preference formation and condition the individual-level relationship between income and demand for government redistribution. Using 300 country-surveys in 50 countries between 1985 and 2008 to model the relationships among country-level characteristics, individual income and support for redistribution, this paper finds evidence to suggest that not only do political institutions, inequality, and existing redistribution shape the formation of preferences, but that social diversity and dominant cultural values do as well.