Political Elites, Economic Inequality and Unequal Representation

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Unequal representation is a well-documented phenomenon in the United States and, due to increasing levels of income inequality, many other democracies are witnessing a similar trend. The result is that the preferences of more affluent citizens tend to prevail when they are opposed to the preferences of average and low-income citizens, reinforcing inequalities. The determinants of unequal representation are still debated in the literature and – in particular – elites’ role has been understudied. Our panel focuses on how politicians’ attitudes and behaviour have an effect on differentiated representation. The four papers address this question with a variety of analytical and methodological approaches. Politicians’ role is analysed either in a comparative perspective or in single countries. Moreover, the papers combine experimental techniques with survey analysis. Thanks to this combination of different studies, the panel sheds light on one of the potential explanations of unequal representation and advances our understanding of how we could potentially reduce this income bias in democratic politics.

Sub Unit

• Division 22: Legislative Studies

Individual Presentations

• Not Visible Enough? Elites’ Explanations of Inequality and Their Consequences - Nathalie Giger, University of Geneva; Elisa Volpi, University of Geneva

• The Risks of Knowing It All: Unequal Representation Caused by Political Expertise - Yvette Peters, University of Bergen; Troy Saghaug Broderstad; Trajche Z. Panov, University of Bergen

• How Legislators Perceive Redistributive Preferences of Voters - Christian Breunig, University of Konstanz; Luzia Helfer, Geneva University, Political Science and International Relations; Julie Sevenans, University of Antwerp

• Unequal Responsiveness in MP-Citizen Communication: A Comparative Experiment - Wouter Schakel, University of Amsterdam; Diane Bolet, King's College London; Markus Baumann, Department of Social Sciences; Rosie Campbell, University of London, Birkbeck College; Tom Louwerse, Leiden University; Thomas Zittel, Goethe-University Frankfurt

Chair

• Elisa Volpi University of Geneva

Discussant

• Nathalie Giger University of Geneva