Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T08:06:30.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Political Representation of Economic Interests

Subversion of Democracy or Middle-Class Supremacy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2020

Mads Andreas Elkjær  and
Torben Iversen
Get access

Abstract

Rising inequality has caused concerns that democratic governments are no longer responding to majority demands, an argument the authors label the subversion of democracy model (sdm). The sdm comes in two forms: one uses public opinion data to show that policies are strongly biased toward the preferences of the rich; the other uses macrolevel data to show that governments aren’t responding to rising inequality. This article critically reassesses the sdm, points to potential biases, and proposes solutions that suggest a different interpretation of the data, which the authors label the representative democracy model (rdm). After testing the sdm against the rdm on public opinion data and on a new data set on fiscal policy, they find that middle-class power has remained remarkably strong over time, even as inequality has risen. The authors conclude that the rich have little influence on redistributive policies, and that the democratic state is apparently not increasingly constrained by global capital.

Keywords

democracyeconomic interestsglobalizationinequalitypowerredistributionrepresentationwelfare state
Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 72 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 254 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, Daron, and Robinson, James A.. 2006. Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Achen, Christopher H. 1978. “Measuring Representation.” American Journal of Political Science 22, no. 3: 475–510. doi: 10.2307/2110458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achen, Christopher H. 2000. “Why Lagged Dependent Variables Can Suppress the Explanatory Power of Other Independent Variables.” Paper prepared for the annual meeting of the Political Methodology Section of the American Political Science Association, Los Angeles, July 20–22. At http://www-personal.umich.edu/~franzese/Achen.2000.LDVstealingExplanPower.pdf, accessed September 1, 2018.Google Scholar
Aldrich, John H. 1995. Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Armingeon, Klaus, Wenger, Virginia, Wiedemeier, Fiona, Isler, Christian, Knopfel, Laura, Weisstanner, David, and Engler, Sarah. 2018. “Comparative Political Data Set 1960–2016.” Bern, Switzerland: Institute of Political Science, University of Berne. At https://www.cpds-data.org/index.php/data#CPDS, accessed September 1, 2018.Google Scholar
Baldwin, Peter. 1990. The Politics of Social Solidarity: Class Bases of the European Welfare State, 1875–1975. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2017. “Political Inequality in Affluent Democracies: The Social Welfare Deficit.” Working Paper 5-2017. Vanderbilt University Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. At https://www.vanderbilt.edu/csdi/includes/Working_Paper_5_2017.pdf, accessed April 18, 2017.Google Scholar
Bashir, Omar S. 2015. “Testing Inferences about American Politics: A Review of the ‘Oligarchy’ Result.” Research & Politics 2, no. 4: 1–7. doi: 10.1177/2053168015608896.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhatti, Yosef, and Robert, S. Erikson. 2011. “How Poorly Are the Poor Represented in the US Senate?” In Peter, K. Enns and Wlezien, Christopher, eds., Who Gets Represented? New York, N.Y.: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Bradley, David, Huber, Evelyne, Moller, Stephanie, Nielsen, François, and John, D. Stephens. 2003. “Distribution and Redistribution in Postindustrial Democracies.” World Politics 55, no. 2 (January): 193–228. doi: 10.1353/wp.2003.0009.Google Scholar
Branham, J. Alexander, Stuart, N. Soroka, and Wlezien, Christopher. 2017. “When Do the Rich Win?” Political Science Quarterly 132, no. 1: 43–62. doi: 10.1002/polq.12577.Google Scholar
Chinn, Menzie D., and Ito, Hiro. 2006. “What Matters for Financial Development? Capital Controls, Institutions, and Interactions.” Journal of Development Economics 81, no. 1: 163–92. doi: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2005.05.010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chinn, Menzie D., and Ito, Hiro. 2008. “A New Measure of Financial Openness.” Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 10, no. 3: 309–22. doi: 10.1080/13876980802231123.Google Scholar
Darby, Julia, and Melitz, Jacques. 2008. “Social Spending and Automatic Stabilizers in the OECD.” Economic Policy 23, no. 56: 716–56. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0327.2008.00210.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolls, Mathias, Fuest, Clemens, and Peichl, Andreas. 2012. “Automatic Stabilizers and Economic Crisis: US vs. Europe.” Journal of Public Economics 96, no. 3–4: 279–94. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.11.001.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York, N.Y.: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Elkjær, Mads Andreas. Forthcoming. “What Drives Unequal Policy Responsiveness? Assessing the Role of Informational Asymmetries in Economic PolicyMaking.” Comparative Political Studies.Google Scholar
Elkjær, Mads Andreas, and Iversen, Torben. 2020a. “Replication data for: The Political Representation of Economic Interests: Subversion of Democracy or Middle-Class Supremacy?” Harvard Dataverse, V1. doi: 10.7910/DVN/8OVAL6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elkjær, Mads Andreas, and Iversen, Torben. 2020b. “Supplementary material for: The Political Representation of Economic Interests: Subversion of Democracy or Middle-Class Supremacy?” doi: 10.1017/S0043887119000224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elsässer, Lea, Hense, Svenja, and Schäfer, Armin. 2018. “Government of the People, by the Elite, for the Rich: Unequal Responsiveness in an Unlikely Case.” MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/5. Cologne, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. At http://www.mpifg.de/pu/mpifg_dp/2018/dp18-5.pdf, accessed June 14, 2018.Google Scholar
Enns, Peter K. 2015. “Relative Policy Support and Coincidental Representation.” Perspectives on Politics 13, no. 4: 1053–64. doi: 10.1017/S1537592715002315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, Peter K., and Wlezien, Christopher, eds. 2011. Who Gets Represented? New York, N.Y.: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., MacKuen, Michael B., and Stimson, James A.. 2002. The Macro Polity. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., Wright, Gerald C., and McIver, John P.. 1993. Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Policy in the American States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1985. Politics against Markets: The Social Democratic Road to Power. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2005. “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness.” Public Opinion Quarterly 69, no. 5: 778–96. doi: 10.1093/poq/nfi058.Google Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2012. Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. New York, N.Y., and Princeton, N.J.: Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gilens, Martin, and Benjamin, I. Page. 2014. “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics 12, no. 3: 564–81. doi: 10.1017/S1537592714001595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goos, Maarten, and Manning, Alan. 2007. “Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain.” Review of Economics and Statistics 89, no. 1: 118–33. doi: 10.1162/rest.89.1.118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S., and Pierson, Paul. 2010. “Winner-Take-All Politics: Public Policy, Political Organization, and the Precipitous Rise of Top Incomes in the United States.” Politics & Society 38, no. 2: 152–204. doi: 10.1177/0032329210365042.Google Scholar
Hinich, Melvin J., and Michael, C. Munger. 1994. Ideology and the Theory of Political Choice. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, and John, D. Stephens. 2001. Development and Crisis of the Welfare State: Parties and Policies in Global Markets. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IRS. 2018. Individual Income Tax Rates and Tax Shares. Washington, D.C.: Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income. At http://www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats-Individual-Income-Tax-Rates-and-Tax-Shares, accessed October 13, 2019.Google Scholar
Iversen, Torben, and Soskice, David. 2006. “Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why Some Democracies Redistribute More Than Others.” American Political Science Review 100, no. 2: 165–81. doi: 10.1017/S0003055406062083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, Torben, and Soskice, David. 2015. “Information, Inequality, and Mass Polarization: Ideology in Advanced Democracies.” Comparative Political Studies 48, no13: 1781–813. doi: 10.1177/0010414015592643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, Torben, and Soskice, David. 2019. Democracy and Prosperity: Reinventing Capitalism through a Turbulent Century. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J., and Peter, K. Enns. 2010. “Inequality and the Dynamics of Public Opinion: The Self-Reinforcing Link between Economic Inequality and Mass Preferences.” American Journal of Political Science 54, no. 4: 855–70. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00472.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert. 1994. The Transformation of European Social Democracy. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert. 2000. “Linkages Between Citizens and Politicians in Democratic Polities.” Comparative Political Studies 33, no. 6-7: 845–79. doi: 10.1177/001041400003300607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kölln, Ann-Kristin. 2018. “Political Sophistication Affects How Citizens’ Social Policy Preferences Respond to the Economy.” West European Politics 41, no. 1: 196–217. doi: 10.1080/01402382.2017.1332314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korpi, Walter. 1983. The Democratic Class Struggle. London, UK: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Korpi, Walter, and Palme, Joakim. 1998. “The Paradox of Redistribution and Strategies of Equality: Welfare State Institutions, Inequality, and Poverty in the Western Countries.” American Sociological Review 63, no. 5: 661–87. doi: 10.2307/2657333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larcinese, Valentino. 2005. “Electoral Competition and Redistribution with Rationally Informed Voters.” Contributions in Economic Analysis & Policy 4, no. 1: 1–26. doi: 10.2202/1538-0645.1366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lax, Jeffrey R., Justin, H. Phillips, and Zelizer, Adam. 2019. “The Party or the Purse? Unequal Representation in the US Senate.” American Political Science Review 113, no. 4: 917–40. doi: 10.1017/S0003055419000315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindert, Peter H. 2004. Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 2003. “Rethinking Representation.” American Political Science Review 97, no. 4: 515–28. doi: 10.1017/S0003055403000856.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mares, Isabela. 2003. The Politics of Social Risk: Business and Welfare State Development. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Martin, Cathie Jo. 2000. Stuck in Neutral: Business and the Politics of Human Capital Investment Policy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Meltzer, Allan H., and Scott, F. Richard. 1981. “A Rational Theory of the Size of Governmentl”Journal of Political Economy 89, no. 5: 914–27. doi: 10.1086/261013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moene, Karl Ove, and Wallerstein, Michael. 2001. “Inequality, Social Insurance, and Redistribution.” American Political Science Review 95, no. 4: 859–74. doi: 10.1017/S0003055400400067.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD. 2011. Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising. Paris, France: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Publishing. doi: 10.1787/8789264119536-en.Google Scholar
OECD. 2016. Society at a Glance 2016. Paris, France: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Publishing. doi: 10.1787/19991290.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I., Larry, M. Bartels, and Seawright, Jason. 2013. “Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans.” Perspectives on Politics 11, no. 1: 51–73. doi: 10.1017/S153759271200360X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, Yvette, and Sander, J. Ensink. 2015. “Differential Responsiveness in Europe: The Effects of Preference Difference and Electoral Participation.” West European Politics 38, no. 3: 577–600. doi: 10.1080/01402382.2014.973260.Google Scholar
Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plümper, Thomas, Vera, E. Troeger, and Manow, Philip. 2005. “Panel Data Analysis in Comparative Politics: Linking Method to Theory.” European Journal of Political Research 44, no. 2: 327–54. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2005.00230.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rehm, Philipp. 2011. “Social Policy by Popular Demand.” World Politics 63, no. 2 (April): 271–99. doi: 10.1017/S0043887111000037.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodrik, Dani. 1997. Has Globalization Gone Too Far? Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodrik, Dani. 2011. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Bo. 1998. Just Institutions Matter: The Moral and Political Logic of the Universal Welfare State. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, David. 2018. “Food Comes First, Then Morals: Redistribution Preferences, Parochial Altruism, and Immigration in Western Europe.” Journal of Politics 80, no. 1: 225–39. doi: 10.1086/694201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schakel, Wouter. 2019. “Unequal Policy Responsiveness in the Netherlands.” Socio-Economic Review. doi: 10.1093/ser/mwz018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schakel, Wouter, Burgoon, Brian, and Hakhverdian, Armen. 2020. “Real but Unequal Representation in Welfare State Reform.” Politics & Society 48, no. 1: 131–63. doi: 10.1177/0032329219897984.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, Elmer Eric. 1942. Party Government. New York, N.Y.: Farrar and Rinehart.Google Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N., and Wlezien, Christopher. 2008. “On the Limits to Inequality in Representation.” PS: Political Science & Politics 41, no. 2: 319–27. doi: 10.1017/S1049096508080505.Google Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N., and Wlezien, Christopher. 2010. Degrees of Democracy: Politics, Public Opinion, and Policy. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stimson, James A. 2011. “The Issues in Representation.” In Enns, Peter K. and Wlezien, Christopher, eds., Who Gets Represented? New York, N.Y.: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang. 2011. “The Crises of Democratic Capitalism.” New Left Review 71: 5–29. At https://newleftreview.org/issues/II71/articles/wolfgang-streeck-the-crises-of-democratic-capitalism, accessed January 27, 2020.Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang. 2016. How Will Capitalism End? Essays on a Failing System. London, UK: Verso.Google Scholar
Swenson, Peter A. 2002. Capitalists against Markets: The Making of Labor Markets and Welfare States in the United States and Sweden. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verbist, Gerlinde, Förster, Michael, and Vaalavuo, Maria. 2012. “The Impact of Publicly Provided Services on the Distribution of Resources: Review of New Results and Methods.” OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Paper No. 130. Paris, France: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Publishing. doi: 10.1787/5k9h363c5szq-en.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wlezien, Christopher. 2017. “Public Opinion and Policy Representation: On Conceptualization, Measurement, and Interpretation.” Policy Studies Journal 45, no. 4: 561–82. doi: 10.1111/psj.12190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wlezien, Christopher, and Stuart, N. Soroka. 2011. “Inequality in Policy Responsiveness?” In Peter, K. Enns and Wlezien, Christopher, eds., Who Gets Represented? New York, N.Y.: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Elkjær and Iversen Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/8OVAL6
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Elkjær and Iversen supplementary material

Elkjær and Iversen supplementary material

Download Elkjær and Iversen supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 733.9 KB