The good council: Deliberating inequality in a field experiment
Franziska Disslbacher will discuss how participatory forms of democracy can be discussed as a way to ground policymaking in popular legitimacy.
The good council: Deliberating inequality in a field experiment
11 Jun 2025, 13:00 – 14:00
Economic policy decisions are typically made by governments. In the context of declining trust in political institutions, participatory forms of democracy are increasingly discussed as a way to ground policymaking in popular legitimacy.
Franziska examines how deliberative democracy shapes participants’ engagement with democratic processes and their preferences for economic policy. The research looks at a citizens’ council on wealth inequality and redistribution, established to allocate a large private endowment (€25 million) across social projects (the “Good Council”).
The experimental design allows for the identification of robust effects of deliberation: participants gain a deeper understanding of inequality, and their policy preferences converge. However, these effects do not necessarily extend to stronger support for wealth taxation, increased political participation, or greater political efficacy.
This event will be particularly useful for researchers, academics and teachers.
Related links
- QSS and CLS seminar series
- Quantitative Social Science
- Centre for Longitudinal Studies
- Social Research Institute
Image
Money via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
Franziska Disslbacher
Economist and Assistant Professor
WU, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the Research Institute Economics of Inequality
Her current research interest centers on the distribution and taxation of income, wealth, and inheritances as well as intergenerational social mobility.
She is particularly interested in fostering our understanding of how social, economic, and political institutions and mechanisms link inequalities in opportunities to inequalities in outcomes.
Further information
Ticketing
Pre-booking essential
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes
Related events
The Referral Maze
Join this event workshop exploring the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) support system with UCL's Dr Nelly Ali and Islington Council's Karolina Bober and Catherine Briody
New perspectives on histories of educational resistance in South Africa
The seminar will discuss the recently published book reviewing the history of the South African NECC (National Education Co-ordinating Committee) looking at the period between 1985-1995.
Exploring your inner selves: UCL collaborates with JAGA-NSF for young people of African heritage
How can inner conversations with your ‘selves’ bring fresh creative or intellectual perspectives?