Descriptive Representation and Unequal Responsiveness

• In Event: Unequal Responsiveness in Advanced Democracies

Abstract

In the US, political decisions tend to reflect the preferences of the rich while largely ignoring those of the poor and the middle class. Existing studies suggest that party and campaign financing causes this unequal policy responsiveness. Building on these studies, we argue that the underrepresentation of lower social classes in parliament is another central factor explaining biased political decision-making. Our analysis uses an original dataset with more than 700 survey questions posed between 1980 and 2013 in Germany that deal with specific reform decisions and cover a broad range of issues. The results show a notable association between political decisions and the preferences of those groups who are overrepresented in parliament, but no association for lower social classes. Despite the different institutional setting, representational inequality in Germany resembles the findings for the US case. Accordingly, we conclude that unequal descriptive representation might be the common cause of unequal responsiveness.

Authors

• Armin Schäfer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität

• Svenja Hense, University of Osnabrueck