Most Americans Think Rich Are Too Rich

Or at least too much richer than the poor. Study finds 92% prefer Swedish model
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 24, 2010 8:47 AM CDT
Most Americans Think Rich Are Too Rich
The study's authors say they observed a surprising amount of consensus.   (Shutter Stock)

Most Americans—even rich ones and Republicans—think too much money is concentrated in the hands of too few, according to a study unearthed by Huffington Post. Researchers found that, across income and ideological groups, people both underestimated how much money is in the hands of the richest and expressed a belief that wealth should be distributed more fairly. People polled, on average, believed the richest 20% controlled 59% of the country's wealth. They actually control 84%.

The people polled by the Harvard Business School researchers—a randomly selected sample representing various income groups—were asked to choose between unlabeled pie charts showing America's distribution of wealth and Sweden's, where the richest 20% control only 36% of the country's wealth. Asked which of the two they'd rather live in, 92% preferred Sweden's wealth distribution. (More inequality stories.)

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