Does Liberte=Egalite? A Survey of the Empirical Evidence on the Links between Political Democracy and Income Inequality

35 Pages Posted: 25 Apr 2000

See all articles by Mark Gradstein

Mark Gradstein

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Branko Milanovic

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG); University of Maryland

Date Written: March 2000

Abstract

The relationship between the distribution of political rights and that of economic resources has been studied both theoretically and empirically. This paper reviews the existing literature and, in particular, the available empirical evidence. Our reading of the literature suggests that formal exclusion from the political process through restrictions on voting franchise appears to have caused a high degree of economic inequality, and democratization in the form of franchise expansion has typically led to an expansion in redistribution, at least in the small sample of episodes studied. Similarly, and more emphatically compared to the ambiguous results of the earlier research, more recent evidence indicates an inverse relationship between other measures of democracy, based on civil liberties and political rights, and inequality. The transition experience of the East European countries, however, seems to some extent to go against these conclusions. This, in turn, opens possible new vistas for research, namely the need to incorporate the length of democratic experience and the role played by ideology and social values.

JEL Classification: D31, D72

Suggested Citation

Gradstein, Mark and Milanovic, Branko, Does Liberte=Egalite? A Survey of the Empirical Evidence on the Links between Political Democracy and Income Inequality (March 2000). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=219410 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.219410

Mark Gradstein

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - Department of Economics ( email )

Beer-Sheva 84105
Israel
+97 2 8647 2288 (Phone)
+97 2 8647 2941 (Fax)

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.cesifo.de

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Branko Milanovic (Contact Author)

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States
202-473-6968 (Phone)
202-522-1153 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/bmilanovic

University of Maryland ( email )

College Park
College Park, MD 20742
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
592
Abstract Views
5,163
Rank
83,855
PlumX Metrics