歐洲人對收入平等問題更悲觀

Europeans are more pessimistic about how equal their societies actually are, while in the US people are wedded to the American dream and believe society is fairer than it really is.

歐洲人對本國社會的實際平等程度更加悲觀，而美國人則緊抱美國夢、他們眼中的美國社會比實際上更加平等。

German research sheds new light on the political challenges involved in tax, income distribution and social fairness and raises questions in the equality debate revived by French economist Thomas Piketty.

德國的一項研究爲涉及稅收、收入分配和社會公平的各項政治挑戰帶來了新的啓發，在由法國經濟學家托馬斯•皮凱蒂(Thomas Piketty)重新點燃的不公平辯論中提出了問題。

The study, to be presented at Germany’s Lindau conference this week, “suggests that in the political debate on income distribution, it is often not the facts that count but [perceptions]”, said Professor Michael Hüther, director of the Cologne-based IW economic institute.

德國科隆經濟研究所(IW)負責人邁克爾•許特(Michael Hüther)教授表示，本週將在德國林道(Lindau)會議上發表的這份研究報告“似乎表明在這場有關收入分配的政治辯論中，重要的往往不是事實，而是（印象）”。

Author Judith Niehues compared actual and perceived income levels in the US and 23 EU countries, using economic data and polling of about 1,000 people in each country.

研究報告的作者朱迪絲•尼許斯(Judith Niehues)利用經濟數據，並在每個國家對大約1000人進行調查，比較了美國和23個歐盟(EU)國家的實際收入水平和本國人認爲的收入水平。

She found that Europeans underestimate the proportion of middle-income earners and overestimate the proportion of the poor, commonly defined as people on incomes of 60 per cent or less of the median.

她發現，歐洲人低估了中等收入者的比例，高估了窮人的比例，後者通常定義爲收入達到或低於中值收入60%的人士。

Only the US has a more unequal income distribution than its citizens imagined, with many more poor people.

只有美國的實際收入分配情況比其國民想象的更爲不平等，窮人的數量也大大超過他們認爲的。

In Europe, people on middle incomes are far more numerous than those at the bottom or the top of the pay ladder. So a European income-distribution chart resembles a barrel, with a bulge in the middle. But many see it as a tower standing on a broad plinth, with a small elite, a modest middle-class and a big base of low earners.

在歐洲，中等收入者的數量遠遠超過位於收入階梯最底端或最頂端者。因此，歐洲的收入分配呈桶形，中間部分比兩頭更鼓。但在許多人眼中，歐洲的收入分配爲塔形，基座寬，塔尖小，中產階層不多不少，底部有龐大的低收入人羣。

This is particularly true in Germany and France, where people see income distribution as far more unequal than it is. In the UK and Spain, where distribution is less equal, perceptions are more accurate.

德國和法國尤其如此，這兩國人眼中的本國收入分配不平等程度遠遠超過實際情況。在收入分配更不平等的英國和西班牙，人們的印象更爲準確。

More than 30 per cent of Americans have incomes of 60 per cent or less of the median. But most people think that only 24 per cent of their fellow citizens are at this level. “The middle class is truly smaller in the USA and the lower income group considerably more numerous than its citizens suppose,” says a summary of the study, which suggests this might be partly linked to social mobility in the US. People may be less focused on inequality if they think they are climbing the income ladder, explaining why pressure for redistributive taxation is lower in the US.

逾30%美國人的收入剛剛達到或低於中值收入60%。但大多數美國人認爲這個比例僅爲24%。研究摘要稱，“在美國，實際的中產階層人數比其國民想象的更少，較低收入人羣則龐大得多”。報告提出，部分原因可能是美國的社會流動性較大。如果人們認爲自己在收入階梯上的位置正在攀升，那麼他們或許不會那麼關注不平等，這解釋了爲何在美國通過徵稅對財富進行再分配的民意壓力較低。

In Europe, the gap between perception and reality is particularly wide in former communist states, with citizens convinced their countries are far less equal than they really are.

在歐洲，國民的印象和實際情況差異格外大的是那些前共產黨統治國家，這些國家的國民認爲的不平等程度遠遠超過實際情況。

The report adds that levels of concern about inequality tend to be greater in countries with higher levels of perceived inequality. More than half of Germans and 79 per cent of French think income differentials are too great, against about 30 per cent of Britons and Spaniards.

報告補充稱，在國民認爲的不平等程度超過實際情況的國家，有關不平等的擔憂往往更強烈。逾一半德國人、以及79%的法國人認爲，本國的收入差距太大，而在英國和西班牙，持這種看法者的比例約爲30%。