Electoral Uncertainty, Income Inequality and The Middle Class

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mitra, Anirban; Mitra, Shabana
• 署名单位: University of Oslo; Indian Institute of Management (IIM System); Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12318
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 1119-1152
• 关键词: Redistributive politics; public-goods; INDIA; TRADE; polarization; determinants; COMPETITION; poverty; US

摘要

We investigate how electoral competition affects the income distribution in society. We utilise a standard probabilistic voting setup where parties compete at two stages. Our model delivers that greater electoral competition in a district results in equalisation of incomes therein. We check for these relationships using data from Indian national elections which are combined with consumption expenditure data rounds from the National Sample Survey Organization (1987-8 and 2004-5) to yield a district level panel. Our OLS, 2-SLS and IIV analyses consistently inform that close elections lead to lower inequality and polarisation indicating a larger middle class.