“The produce of the earthall that is derived from its surface by the united application of labour, machinery, and capital, is divided among three classes of the community; namely, the proprietor of the land, the owner of the stock or capital necessary for its cultivation, and the labourers by whose industry it is cultivate. But in different stages of society, the proportions of the whole produce of the earth which will be allotted to each of these classes, under the names of rent, profit, and wages, will be essentially different; depending mainly on the actual fertility of the soil, on the accumulation of capital and population, and on the skill, ingenuity, and instruments employed in agriculture. To determine the laws which regulate this distribution, is the principal problem in Political Economy”
- D. Ricardo (1817) On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (Preface)
At the heart of the study of politics is a question about who gets what and when. Consequently, inequality features as a central theme in the discipline. Scholars have studied how inequality shapes democratization, redistribution, voting behavior, and how the institutions of welfare and taxation in turn shape inequality. More recently, scholars have started to pay attention to how inequality across and within ethnic or racial groups may matter to political outcomes. The centrality of inequality is reflected in the significant increase in quantity and quality of research on this subject over the past two decades.
This seminar is designed to provide you with a critical overview of the field, both theoretically and empirically. We will briefly review the normative foundations and conceptual complexities involved in the study of inequality. Measures of inequality vary in their analytical properties, and it is important to choose the right one. We will review the main issues when measuring inequality. We will then proceed thematically.
First we will examine the political and institutional foundations of income inequality. Second, will focus on the political effects of inequality, paying particular attention to issues such as redistributive preferences, political participation, conflict, and the ethnic and racial underpinnings of inequality. Finally, we end the seminar with what constraints to equality be it state capacity, equality of opportunity, or education.
