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Economics of Majoritarian Identity Politics

Author

Listed:
  • Rohit Ticku

    (Institute for the Study of Religion, Economics and Society, Chapman University)

  • Raghul S. Venkatesh

    (University of Aix-Marseille)

Abstract

Majoritarian identity politics has become salient in representative democracies. Why do par-ties engage in identity politics and what are its consequences? We present a model of elec-toral competition in which parties capture voter groups based on their identity, and compete over an economic policy platform for the support of non-partisan voters. In addition, the party that caters to majoritarian interests makes a costly investment in polarizing identity. The investment provides subsequent payoffs to voters who have a preference for identity. When voter preferences over policy platforms are idiosyncratic in nature, greater invest-ment in polarizing identity (i) increases both parties’ rents from office; and (ii) marginalizes minority voter interests. Further, the majoritarian party substitutes away from economic policy platforms. This enhances its overall payoffs in equilibrium and decreases that of the non-majoritarian party. We discuss the implications in context of episodes of majoritarian-ism in India, Turkey, Brazil, and the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Rohit Ticku & Raghul S. Venkatesh, 2020. "Economics of Majoritarian Identity Politics," Working Papers 20-13, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:chu:wpaper:20-13
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    File URL: https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_papers/307/
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Identity Politics; Clientalism; Inter-group Conflict; Public Goods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D0 - Microeconomics - - General
    • H0 - Public Economics - - General
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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