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Voting, Inequality And Redistribution

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Rainald Borck

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Abstract

This paper surveys models of voting on redistribution. Under reasonable assumptions, the baseline model produces an equilibrium with the extent of redistributive taxation chosen by the median income earner. If the median is poorer than average, redistribution is from rich to poor, and increasing inequality increases redistribution. However, under different assumptions about the economic environment, redistribution may not be simply rich to poor, and inequality need not increase redistribution. Several lines of argument are presented, in particular, political participation, public provision of private goods, public pensions, and tax avoidance or evasion. Copyright 2007 The Author Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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Article provided by Blackwell Publishing in its journal Journal of Economic Surveys.

Volume (Year): 21 (2007)
Issue (Month): 1 (02)
Pages: 90-109
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Handle: RePEc:bla:jecsur:v:21:y:2007:i:1:p:90-109

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  2. Avinash Dixit & John Londregan, 1998. "Ideology, Tactics, And Efficiency In Redistributive Politics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(2), pages 497-529, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Epple, Dennis & Romano, Richard E, 1996. "Public Provision of Private Goods," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 57-84, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Roland Benabou, 2000. "Unequal Societies: Income Distribution and the Social Contract," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(1), pages 96-129, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Rainald Borck, 2003. "On the Choice of Public Pensions when Income and Life Expectancy Are Correlated," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 369, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Roemer, John E., 1998. "Why the poor do not expropriate the rich: an old argument in new garb," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 399-424, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Gouveia, Miguel, 1997. " Majority Rule and the Public Provision of a Private Good," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 93(3-4), pages 221-44, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Borck, Rainald, 2002. " Jurisdiction Size, Political Participation, and the Allocation of Resources," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 113(3-4), pages 251-63, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Harms, Philipp & Zink, Stefan, 2003. "Limits to redistribution in a democracy: a survey," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 651-668, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Francisco Rodriguez, 1999. "Inequality, Redistribution and Rent-Seeking," Electronic Working Papers 99-006, University of Maryland, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  23. Rainald Borck, 2003. "Voting on Redistribution with Tax Evasion," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 329, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  26. Lindert, Peter H., 1996. "What Limits Social Spending?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 1-34, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  34. Gans, Joshua S. & Smart, Michael, 1996. "Majority voting with single-crossing preferences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 219-237, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Philip Nel, 2006. "When Can the Rabble Redistribute? Democratization and Income Distribution in Low- and Middle-income Countries," Working Papers 43, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality. [Downloadable!]
  2. John Creedy & Solmaz Moslehi, 2007. "The Optimal Composition of Government Expenditure," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1008, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  3. John Creedy, 2007. "Choosing The Tax Rate in a Linear Income Tax Structure: An Introduction," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1006, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  4. John Creedy & Solmaz Moslehi, 2007. "Modelling the Composition of Government Expenditure in Democracies," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1007, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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