Keywords
Economic inequality, income inequality, inequality, representation, democratic, institutions, institutionalism, democratic institutions, transatlantic consensus, oecd, organization for economic co operation and development
Abstract
This study examines the effects of political representation on economic inequality across western industrialized democracies. I explore an explanation of increases in economic inequality as a consequence of less representative democratic institutions. Explaining economic inequality in this manner is a shift from to the Transatlantic Consensus that attributes increased economic inequality to globalization. I expect to find that more representative electoral and governments institutions will be associated with lower levels of economic inequality. The analysis takes place across twenty-three countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the past forty years using a cross-sectional longitudinal model. Variables used to operationalize the level of representation of democratic institutions include a novel variable of the representative ratio, the effective number of parties, an index of institutional constraints, presidential system, single member districts, and judicial review. Voter turnout, the percentage of seats held by women, gross domestic product per capita, unemployment, and the size of the industrial sector are used as control variables. The findings support the main hypothesis: as political representation increases, economic inequality decreases.
Notes
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Graduation Date
2014
Semester
Spring
Advisor
Kinsey, Barbara
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
College
College of Sciences
Department
Political Science
Degree Program
Political Science; American and Comparative Politics
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0005230
URL
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005230
Language
English
Release Date
May 2014
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
Subjects
Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences; Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic
STARS Citation
Plungis, Donald, "Economic Inequality and Democratic Representative Institutions Across Western Industrialized Democracies" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4496.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4496