Publication type
Research Paper
Series Number
2021-23
Series
QPE Working Papers
Author
Publication date
January 5, 2021
Summary:
Governments use taxation and social security payments to buy votes. I argue that governments redistribute to electorally important groups defined by multiple dimensions (such as age, parental status, and income), and that this multidimensional redistribution helps explain the evolution of income inequality. Using a difference-in-differences method, I find that governments within the United Kingdom redistribute more to electorally important groups after changes in power, and that this multidimensional redistribution also has a significant impact on income inequality. The multidimensional perspective analysed here also explains patterns of redistribution that the standard unidimensional income perspective, which analyses transfers solely between rich and poor, cannot.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/t8uks
Subjects
Link
- https://sites.google.com/view/kingsqpe/working-papers
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