Income inequality and redistribution: Does democracy matter?

Income inequality;redistribution;welfare state;median voter;democracy;autocracy;gerontocracy;327.17

국제대학원 국제학과 ;

University:서울대학교 국제대학원

关键词: Income inequality;    redistribution;    welfare state;    median voter;    democracy;    autocracy;    gerontocracy;    327.17;   

Others  :  http://s-space.snu.ac.kr/bitstream/10371/137507/1/000000144957.pdf

美国|英语

来源: Seoul National University Open Repository

【 摘 要 】

Recent quantitative research on democratic countries has found a positiverelationship between income inequality and redistribution. In other words, democraciesrespond to higher inequality by redistributing more. Can similar sensitivity be seen innon‐democracies? This paper seeks an answer by assembling a sample of 160 countriesthat vary across political system and level of development from 1961 to 2015. I find weakand non‐significant differences between regime types, suggesting that both democraciesand non‐democracies are concerned about reducing inequality. My findings challenge thelogic of prior literature that explain redistribution with the median voter model, amechanism that should only be found in democracies. I also find that population ageingis related to redistribution in all regimes, reflecting the automatic role of pensionprogrammes more than fears of ;;gerontocracy’, where the elderly abuse their votingpower to enact unsustainable increases in pension generosity. I suggest that moreattention can be paid to the redistributive motivations of political actors in bothdemocracies and non‐democracies and their role in forging social contracts thatlegitimate the state.