Democracy, Redistribution, and Equality

Przeworski, Adam

doi:10.1590/1981-3893201200010001

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Brazilian Political Science Review

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Article • Bras. Political Sci. Rev. 6 (1) • 2012 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-3893201200010001 copy

Democracy, Redistribution, and Equality^* * This is a much revised version of a lecture delivered at the University of Saão Paulo on October 7, 2011 and at the Third Congress of Mexican Social Science Association on February 27, 2012. I am deeply grateful to Carlos Acuna, Fernando Cortes, and Fernando Limongi for their skeptical, penetrating comments.

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

The article argues that economic inequality inevitably generates political inequality, which in turn reproduces economic inequality. Basic concepts are introduced first along with strong caveats concerning the quality of the cross-national data on income distributions; historical patterns of income inequality are summarized next, and with these preliminaries, a distinction is made between redistribution of consumption at a particular time and equalization of income earning capacities over time. Following this economic considerations, the article discussion moves to political factors that may block redistributions.

Keywords:
democracy; inequality; redistribution; public policies; political factors

Country	Year	Gini	m/μ	Q5/Q1
Bulgaria	1976	17.8	0.99	2.5
Poland	1982	20.9	0.93	2.8
	2002	34.9	0.82	5.5
Denmark	1997	24.7	0.91	4.3
Sweden	1976	28.1	0.96	3.6
US	1968	33.4	0.89	7.1
	2000	40.8	0.78	8.4
	2009	47.0	0.76	14.7
Argentina	1961	42.0	0.66	7.5
	2002	52.5	0.62	18.0
	2009	45.8	0.72	12.3
Brazil	1978	56.0	0.55	24.7
	1989	62.3	0.45	30.8
	2009	53.9	0.60	17.4
Namibia	1993	74.3	0.27	58.9

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[1] *
This is a much revised version of a lecture delivered at the University of Saão Paulo on October 7, 2011 and at the Third Congress of Mexican Social Science Association on February 27, 2012. I am deeply grateful to Carlos Acuna, Fernando Cortes, and Fernando Limongi for their skeptical, penetrating comments.