(Mis)perceptions of individual position in national and global income distribution. The Italian case

Nevena Kulic^*Olga GriaznovaEleonora Clerici

• Universita di Pavia, Pavia, Italy

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of income rank (mis)perceptions in Italy, utilising the data from a large-scale national survey IneqPer (n=12,000; 2024/2025). The study explores the discrepancies between individuals' subjectively perceived and objective income positions, both at national and global level, uncovering the pervasive "center tendency bias" in which people consistently misplace themselves near the median of income distribution regardless their actual income rank. The study reveals systematic patterns of misperceptions: lower-resource individuals tend to overestimate their position in income distribution, while higher-resource individuals often underestimate it. Gender, age, employment status, education, migration background, the type of settlement and regional economic conditions are associated with misperceptions: young, unemployed, and immigrants are more prone to overestimate their rank in income distribution, while men, older, employed, those from urban areas and more educated individuals are more likely to underestimate it. While political orientation does not matter for misperceptions of national income rank, those oriented towards the left tend to be rather accurate in comparison to all other respondents who tend to underestimate their global rank. Moreover, residents of less affluent Southern areas tend to overestimate their income rank, whereas those in wealthier Northern regions often underestimate it. The study is one of the first that analyses both national and global income rank perceptions, revealing a common pattern of misperception-center tendency bias and suggesting that income distributions are broadly perceived as abstract. These findings have significant implications for public policy, economic behaviour, and interventions addressing inequality in Italy and in the world.