Current Research at ISERP
Income Inequality and Partisan Polarization: The View from Congress
by David Epstein (Political Science), James Fowler (UC-San Diego), and Sharyn O'Halloran (Political Science)
New, high-quality cross-national data sets on income inequality seem to indicate that we know less than we thought about the political determinants of income inequality. Previously, three political factors seemed to be solidly supported as influencing the degree of inequality in a society-left-leaning governments, centralized wage bargaining, and proportional representation systems. However, conclusions emphasizing these factors were all based on empirical analysis that went back no further than the 1970s.
For a while, confusion regarding the political economy of income inequality in a comparative setting was mirrored in the American politics literature, but this is changing. Recent studies have started to outline a new consensus on politics and inequality in the United States. These studies analyze outcomes at a high level, relating partisan control of government to economic outcomes. Epstein, Fowler, and O'Halloran, with support from the Russell Sage Foundation, will extend this work into the legislature, at the level of individual votes, coalition formation, and the passage of legislation.
Funded by Russell Sage Foundation »
