Party Responsiveness to Inequality: Challenging Received Wisdom Using New Data

• In Event: Inequality: Preferences and Public Policy

Abstract

Do parties respond to inequality? Despite the growing relevance of this topic due to rising economic disparities, our understanding of party competition over redistribution remains limited. Previous research argues that rising inequality determines public demand for redistributive policies and parties’ supply thereof. Yet, existing research has used broad salience scores of socio-economic positions from party manifestos rather than parties’ distinct stances on (economic) inequality. Moreover, the role of the structure of inequality for party competition remains undertheorized and understudied. This paper addresses both shortcomings. We introduce a novel (Varieties of Egalitarianism) dataset on party stances on economic inequality, equal chances, and equal rights for OECD countries over five decades (1970-2020). This data enables us to test theoretical mechanisms of party responsiveness to different patterns of inequality more directly (compared to, e.g., Tavits and Potter 2015). In line with our theoretical considerations, we find that party competition over redistribution and patterns of party responsiveness across countries as well as broad left-right gradients depend on pre-existing concepts of equality, the structure of inequality, and the welfare state’s capacity to absorb rising levels of inequality. Thereby, our findings contribute to the ongoing debates on the capacity – and willingness – of parties to engage with rising economic inequality.

Authors

• Alexander Horn, University of Konstanz

• Martin Haselmayer, University of Konstanz

• K. Jonathan Klüser, University of Zürich