The Middle Class Consensus and Economic Development

Easterly, William

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURE;    AVERAGE LEVEL;    BACKWARD PARTS;    BALANCED GROWTH;    BETTER HEALTH;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2346
RP-ID  :  WPS2346

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Modern political economy stresses"society's polarization" as a determinant ofdevelopment outcomes. Among the most common dorms of socialconflict are class polarization, and ethnic polarization. Amiddle class consensus is defined as a high share of incomefor the middle class and a low degree of ethnicpolarization. A middle class consensus distinguishesdevelopment successes from failures. A theoretical modelshows how groups - distinguished by class or ethnicity -will under-invest in human capital and infrastructure whenthere is "leakage" to another group. The authorlinks the existence of a middle class consensus to exogenouscountry characteristics, such as resource endowments, alongthe lines of the provocative thesis of Engerman and Sokoloff(1997), that tropical commodity exporters are more unequalthan other societies. The author confirms this hypothesiswith cross-country data. This makes it possible to useresource endowments as instruments for inequality. A highershare of income for the middle class and lower ethnicpolarization, are empirically associated with higher income,higher growth, more education, better health, betterinfrastructure, better economic policies, less politicalinstability, less civil war (putting ethnic minorities atrisk), more social "modernization," and more democracy.