Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Behavioural economics

Visible inequality breeds more inequality

Nature volume 526, pages 333–334 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Experiments suggest that when people can see wealth inequality in their social network, this propels further inequality through reduced cooperation and reduced social connectivity. See Letter p.426

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Wealth on display.

Florian Kopp/Robert Harding Picture Library

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Atkinson, A. B. Inequality: What Can Be Done? (Harvard Univ. Press, 2015).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Chin, G. & Culotta, E. Science 344, 818–821 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Frank, R. H. Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class (Univ. California Press, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Nishi, A., Shirado, H., Rand, D. G. & Christakis, N. A. Nature 526, 426–429 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sadrieh, A. & Verbon, H. A. A. Eur. Econ. Rev. 50, 1197–1222 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Gächter, S., Mengel, F., Tsakas, E. & Vostroknutov, A. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2351717 (2014).

  7. Dohmen, T., Falk, A., Fliessbach, K., Sunde, U. & Weber, B. J. Publ. Econ. 95, 279–285 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Huck, S., Normann, H.-T. & Oechssler, J. Int. J. Industr. Organiz. 18, 39–57 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Nikiforakis, N. Games Econ. Behav. 68, 689–702 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Veblen, T. The Theory of the Leisure Class (Macmillan, 1899).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hopkins, E. & Kornienko, T. Am. Econ. J.: Microeconomics 2(3), 106–137 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Gächter is in the Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.,

    Simon Gächter

Authors
  1. Simon Gächter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon Gächter.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Behavioural economics: A caring majority secures the future

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gächter, S. Visible inequality breeds more inequality. Nature 526, 333–334 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/526333a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/526333a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing