In ‘Inequality: How you view it depends on what you’re told’ in the 29th October Straits Times, Dr Ong Ee Cheng (NUS Economics)and Ms Evelyn Kok Siew Peng (graduate of NUS Economics, discuss their study on 404 National University of Singapore students that revealed the effect of information on how we view inequality and what policies we support. Dividing the respondents into three groups, a positive narrative on Singapore government policy group, a negative narrative group, and a control group, they polled them on issues including whether inequality is a problem here, should a capital gains tax be introduced, and is a person’s socioeconomic status due to circumstance or merit. Finding that what information Singaporeans are exposed to has affects their views on inequality and policy preferences, the authors stress the importance of “exposure to different sources of credible information” in order to have “thoughtful and informed public discourse”.

Read the editorial here.