|4th income group|-0.964<sup>***</sup>|-0.969<sup>***</sup>|-1.083<sup>***</sup>|-1.085<sup>***</sup>|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Highest income group|(0.143)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup><br>-1.569<sup>***</sup>|(0.146)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup><br>-1.573<sup>***</sup>|(0.137)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup><br>-1.676<sup>***</sup>|(0.138)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup><br>-1.677<sup>***</sup>|
||(0.259)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup>|(0.260)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup>|(0.241)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup>|(0.241)<br>_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup>|
|Missing income group|-0.357<sup>**</sup>|-0.360<sup>**</sup>|-0.524<sup>***</sup>|-0.525<sup>***</sup>|
||(0.164)|(0.163)|(0.153)|(0.154)|
||_[0.08]_<sup>_*_</sup>|_[0.07]_<sup>_*_</sup>|_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup>|_[0.01]_<sup>_***_</sup>|
|Observations|46894|46894|36973|36973|
|_R_<sup>2</sup>|0.234|0.234|0.245|0.245|

Notes: OLS regressions where the dependent variable is the perceptions of equality expressed in Gini index equivalent (minimum value 20, maximum value 42). Columns 3 and 4 restricts the sample for those observation with non-missing Intergenerational Elasticity of Education (own cohort – born after 1940). Country and year dummies included in all regressions but not reported. Clustered standard errors at the country level in parentheses. Wild bootstrap country level clustered p-values in brackets. Significance: * p<0.10, ** p<0.05, *** p<0.01.

Many of the individual characteristics included in all specifications in Table 2a show precisely estimated coefficients, indicating the importance that many of these variables have in shaping perceptions. The coefficients are consistent across the two different (with or without controlling for fairness) specifications and are mostly not statistically different across specifications.

Everything else constant, being older correlates positively with the perceived Gini index. For example, the coefficient of being born before 1946 versus being born after 1970 (0.99 Gini points) is 20% larger than the point estimate of one standard deviation change in the unemployment rate (0.82 Gini points). This means that older individuals, everything else equal, perceive their country as more unequal. Being a female also correlates with higher perceptions of inequality, but the effect is about 1/3 of the just described age effect. This lower equality perception of women, everything else constant, could be related to their higher risk aversion as compared to men (e.g., Borghans, Golsteyn, Heckman, and Meijers, 2009). Higher education correlates negatively with inequality perceptions. This is, the higher educated individuals are, the lower the perceived Gini index. The coefficients for the two dummy variables for high school and university education (reference is secondary or lower education) have a large and precisely estimated coefficient. For example, having university education versus secondary or lower has a larger impact on inequality perceptions than many of the other variables. In other words, everything else constant, higher educated individuals perceive their society as being more equal. This might be related to the fact that their reference group is at the top of the income distribution and thus are unable to see all income spread in their country. In all the diagrams showed to the respondent to illustrate the different income distributions (see section 3 on the ISSP question used), the thicker part of the distribution is at the half bottom of the income distribution. This might imply that individuals with a richer reference group will tend to choose diagrams with more people in the middle, i.e., less inequality; while the opposite is true for the others. This argument is also consistent with the negative correlation between income and perceptions of inequality. Income in the sample is defined in five income brackets that are country dependent. The income coefficients show a 28