Socio-Economic Review Advance Access published online on June 13, 2009
Socio-Economic Review, doi:10.1093/ser/mwp012
What if Robin Hood is a social conservative? How the political response to increasing inequality depends on party polarization
Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Oslo, Norway
Correspondence: henning.finseraas{at}nova.no
This paper examines how political competition on a non-economic dimension affects redistribution. More specifically, the paper argues that a high degree of party polarization on a non-economic policy dimension modifies the political response to growing income inequalities. Data from the World Values Survey and the Comparative Manifesto Project are employed to show that party polarization on a traditional moral dimension of politics is associated with a weaker relationship between income and subjective position on the Left–Right scale. Because party polarization is associated with a weaker relationship between income and leftism, the paper claims that the political response to increases in inequality will be weaker in polarized countries. The empirical analysis using redistribution data from the Luxembourg Income Study demonstrates that the positive effect of increases in market inequality on redistribution is lower when party polarization on the non-economic dimension is high.
Key Words: redistribution • inequality • self-interest