Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending

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Income Inequality and Redistributive Government Spending

Author Info

Erwin Tiongson
Luiz de Mello

Abstract

The paper examines empirically the question of whether more unequal societies spend more on income redistribution than their more egalitarian counterparts. Theoretical arguments on this issue are inconclusive. The political economy literature suggests that redistributive spending is higher in unequal societies due to median voter preferences. Alternatively, it can be argued that unequal societies may spend less on redistribution because of capital market imperfections. Based on different data sources, the cross-country evidence reported in this paper suggests that more unequal societies do spend less on redistribution.

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Paper provided by International Monetary Fund in its series IMF Working Papers with number 03/14.

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Length: 25 pages
Date of creation: 13 Feb 2003
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:03/14

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References listed on IDEAS
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Other versions:
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Other versions:
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repec:fth:inadeb:404 is not listed on IDEAS
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Other versions:
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Other versions:
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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.)

Sayantan Ghosal & Eugenio Proto, 2008. "Democracy, Collective Action and Intra-Elite Conflict," CEDI Discussion Paper Series 08-09, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2008. "Democracy, Collective Action and Intra-elite Conflict," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 844, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
- Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2009. "Democracy, collective action and intra-elite conflict," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1078-1089, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Roland Benabou, 2004. "Inequality, Technology, and the Social Contract," NBER Working Papers 10371, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
- Roland Bénabou, 2003. "Inequality, Technology, and the Social Contract," Working Papers 141, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Discussion Papers in Economics.. [Downloadable!]
- Bénabou, Roland, 2004. "Inequality, Technology and the Social Contract," CEPR Discussion Papers 4741, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
- Benabou, Roland, 2005. "Inequality, Technology and the Social Contract," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 25, pages 1595-1638 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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