Liberté = Egalité? EBP2

 Does Liberté = Egalité? A survey of the empirical links between democracy and inequality with some evidence on the transition economies. Written By Branko Milanovic & Mark Gradstein. 

This research survey explores the correlation between democracies and inequality, comparing multiple studies, data sets and theories. Socialists and economists have traditionally believed that a reduction of inequalities amongst the distribution of political power can produce more equality of wealth and status. Arguments presented by Lipset and Lenksi align with the above hypothesis, Lenski proposes the "new democratic ideology" which argues that 'increased political equality has led to more social equality' this is due to the expansion of electoral franchise which enables the public to put pressure on the modern political elites, supposedly leading to more equality. I believe that there is a clear correlation between an increase in democracy and social equality, but what about economic equality?

The implementation of universal franchise in many developed democracies creates a broader range of partisanship and minority representation, this creates a trend where lower income households vote for higher redistribution of tax, theoretically creating more economic equality.  This is supported by the model of redistribution which predicts an inverse relationship between democracy and inequality. Abrams and Settle, 1999, proposed a hypothesis suggesting that 'redistribution is affected by the relative income of the decisive voter' this hypothesis is derived from their argument that 'women suffrage must have lowered the income of the decisive voter.' The study concluded that Switzerland's extension of enfranchisement to women in 1971 increased social welfare spending by 28%. In 1994 Lindert executed a study, testing a similar hypothesis, assessing 21 different economically affluent countries. Lindert concluded that 'expansion of franchise, in particular, women suffrage, is associated with an increase in redistributive spending.' I found these studies particularly interesting. I did some more recent research into this and found in Figure One below:

Doepk, Tertilt and Voena, 2012 conclude that figure one 'shows a correlation coefficient of 0.8, which suggests a strong connection between women's rights and economy development.' Which supports the conclusions of Abrams, Settle and Lindert as suggested above. This evidence suggests that womens suffrage has created a larger voice for lower income households, giving them the opportunity to be the decisive voters, holding the government accountable to provide needed support to those families. 

Other studies however have suggested that it may be ambiguous to interpret the inverse relationship between democracy and inequality due to measuring democracy at one point in time. Sirowy and Inkeles in 1990, assessed twelve studies and concluded that 'political democracy does not widely exacerbate inequality, the existing evidence suggests that the level of political democracy as measured at one point in time tends not to be widely associated with lower levels of income inequality.' Their assessment formally concluded that the length of the democratic regime has a stronger correlation with the decrease in inequality.  A report provided by Muller in 1988 concludes that 'at least approximately 20 years of democratic experience are required for the egalitarian effect to occur.'  A definition written by Oxford defines egalitarian as 'believing in or based on the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.' 

After reading this article and conducting some of my own research I came to a personal conclusion that there is an inverse relationship between the length of the democratic regime and inequality. Economic inequalities will particularly take a longer period of time to see an improvement among the social classes, where as social equality should improve in earlier stages of democracies. 




Gradstein, M., & Milanovic, B. (2012.) Does Liberté=Egalité? A Survey of the Empirical Links between Democracy and Inequality. Policy Research Working Papers. Retrieved from: https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=239073082082020007105067104023071099032048032049061056117000094127003100010001001112024061044008020011060003073007096098020040036087028051104022074075014120080007010081104003088097068073069026073118015117105068091023106120023018005068001030026120&EXT=pdf

Muller, E. (1988). Democracy, Economic Development, and Income Inequality. American Sociological Review, 53(1), 50-68. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095732

Oxford. (n.d.). Egalitarian. Retrieved from https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/egalitarian

Sirowy, L., & Inkeles, A. (1990.) The Effects of Democracy on Economic Growth and Inequality: A Review. Studies in Comparative International Development, 25(1), 151

Figure One: Doepke,M., Tertilt, M., & Voena, A. (2012.) The Economics and Politics of Womens Rights. Annual Review of Economics, 4(1), 339-372. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-061109-080201