Policy specific moods disconnect income inequality and government redistribution
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12007705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cong Huang (0000-0002-2307-864X, University of Houston), Huang Cong (University of Houston, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 522-536 |
| Publication date | 2020-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Social Science Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-3319 • E-ISSN: 1873-5355 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03623319.2020.1746099 |
| OpenAlex | W3022994012 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
The competing arguments of “unequal democracy” and “dynamic democracy” highlight the puzzle of why there has been unabated economic inequality in the U.S. over the past few decades. This study addresses the question by investigating the causal directions and dynamic relations of inequality, redistributive policy specific moods (social welfare and tax), and government redistribution. Unlike current approaches of emphasizing mass preferences or government responsiveness across income groups, this work puts forward that the sustained increase in inequality is due to a lack of evidence of the “dialogue” between inequality and redistribution. It is the policy specific moods that lead to this disconnection. The Granger causality test based on time series data in the U.S. indicates that inequality causes tax but not social welfare policy moods, whereas redistribution simply responds to the latter. Also, the ECM results show that a long-run relationship presents between inequality and tax policy moods as well as between social welfare policy moods and redistribution. This study suggests that the disconnection is a consequence of the mismatch between the redistributive policy demand and supply. Distinguishing between policy preferences for welfare benefits and taxes improves our ability to explain the self-reinforcing inequality
Economic inequality · Economics · Income distribution · Inequality · Labour economics · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Redistribution (election · Redistribution of income and wealth · Social policy · Tax policy · Tax reform · Unemployment · Welfare · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Public Opinion and Democratic Accountability
The Politics of Income Inequality in the United States
Polarized America
Attitudes towards redistribution and the interplay between perceptions and beliefs about inequality
Class War
Unequal Societies
The Standardized World Income Inequality Database
A Rational Theory of the Size of Government
Distribution and Redistribution
Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness
Perspectives on Unequal Democracy
Inequality and the Dynamics of Public Opinion
Taking Time Seriously
Policy Mood and Political Sophistication
Income, Preferences, and the Dynamics of Policy Responsiveness
Is the Water Rising? Reflections on Inequality and American Democracy
On the Limits to Inequality in Representation
Changes in Public Opinion and the American Welfare State
Income Distribution in the United States
Perceptions of Economic Inequality and Support for Redistribution
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |