seen in a positive light if it exceeds that of the reference group ; if, instead, the increase in income is less than that of the reference group, it bini smaghi, l. ( 2008 ), “ la ue non segua l ’ esempio usa ”, corriere della sera, 3 october 2008. is perceived as being an absolute loss, even if it is only relative. one consequence of these tendencies, borne out in a number of experiments, is that individuals may even be prepared to renounce additional income, just to have a more equitable distribution of wealth within the community, particularly when this is to their advantage. zizzo and oswald, 3 researchers at the universities of oxford and warwick respectively, outline the results of an experiment in which the participants can pay out of their own pocket to “ burn ” money belonging to the other members of the group. the majority of subjects choose to do so, even if this reduces their own income. on average, it is the richest subjects who are most affected. this line of research suggests that inequalities create tensions within given social groups and lead to backlashes. these results are consistent with recent studies which attempt to account for the “ happiness ” of individuals in terms of a series of parameters, including income. in this context, the easterlin paradox is well - known. 4 it suggests that when individuals see an increase in their income, their level of satisfaction does not necessarily rise if the increase is very unequal. this literature offers an explanation of the behaviour recently observed in our societies, namely the opposition to helping the crisis - hit financial system, because it is perceived as being richer and well - off. on the contrary, there is greater readiness to help other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture or the automotive industry, even though these sectors have a smaller direct impact on people ’ s well - being. this is probably because these sectors are perceived as being less well - off and faced with difficulties arising from exogenous factors rather than recklessness, unlike the financial sector. it is interesting to note that such attitudes opposed to inequality have also emerged recently in the united states, where income disparities have tended to meet with greater acceptance than in europe, as shown in studies by alesina, di tella and macculloch. 5 one possible explanation is that the mechanisms of upward mobility in american society, which in the past made inequality more acceptable, have ground to a halt

benoit cœure : interview with cnbc television interview by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, with cnbc television, conducted by mr geoff cutmore and broadcast on 12 october 2015. * * * since the low of 2013 it has been germany and spain that have been delivering slightly better economic data and yet, in recent weeks, what we have seen is perhaps they have come off the boil a little bit. italy is still not really knocking it out of the park but doing a little better than expectations, and france actually surprising to the upside a little bit. do you think that tells us now that the periphery economies and france are as competitive as germany? well, my first remark would be that if we look at it from an ecb perspective we don ’ t want to focus too much on the short - term ups and downs. what we see is a steady recovery momentum in the euro area. this is being confirmed, so one month it comes from germany, the other month from italy. when you look through it you see a steady recovery momentum in the euro area, and that is exactly what we want to see. and then, yes, in the periphery of europe we are seeing reforms finding their way into the economy at different paces, at different rhythms. but yes, reforms are working, they are delivering. quite a lot has been achieved since the bottom of the financial crisis and yet this doesn ’ t get talked about too much at the moment. do you undersell that story? we ’ ve had the banking union, we ’ ve had all sorts of progress in the area of reforms. does that message get lost when people just look at the headline data? well, it ’ s not so bad not to be too much in the news. we do look at the discussion, we do hear the discussion here in lima. and that is not really about europe, which is good news ; it shows that there is trust in our recovery. it is true that a lot has been done. a lot has been done from an institutional standpoint, the banking union in particular. a lot has been done in countries that are reforming their economies, reforming their labour markets, and we are gradually seeing it in the numbers. what is it though that needs to happen next for europe to get back its confidence, to get back its swagger? because, would you not agree with me, that the uncertainty itself is something that is undermining