ENGLISH

The Politics of Income Inequality in the United States

Book information

Year
2009
ISBN
0521514584, 9780521514583, 9780511508486
LCC
HC110.I5 K45 2009
Open Library ID
OL23145708M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
771 kB (789851 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
216\217
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

This book revolves around one central question: Do political dynamics have a systematic and predictable influence on distributional outcomes in the United States? The answer is a resounding yes. Utilizing data from mass income surveys, elite surveys, and aggregate time series, as well as theoretical insights from both American and comparative politics, Kelly shows that income inequality is a fundamental part of the U.S. macro political system. Shifts in public opinion, party control of government, and the ideological direction of policy all have important consequences for distributional outcomes. Specifically, shifts to the left produce reductions in inequality through two mechanisms - explicit redistribution and market conditioning. Whereas many previous studies focus only on the distributional impact of redistribution, this book shows that such a narrow strategy is misguided. In fact, market mechanisms matter far more than traditional redistribution in translating macro political shifts into distributional outcomes.

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