POLITICAL KUZNETS CURVE: THE EFFECT OF DEMOCRATIZATION AND COLLECTIVE ACTION ON INCOME DISTRIBUTION

ПОЛИТИЧЕСКАЯ КРИВАЯ КУЗНЕЦА: ВЛИЯНИЕ ДЕМОКРАТИЗАЦИИ И КОЛЛЕКТИВНОГО ДЕЙСТВИЯ НА РАСПРЕДЕЛЕНИЕ ДОХОДОВ

Matveev, Ilya (Матвеев, Илья) () and Konovalov, Ilya (Коновалов, Илья)
Additional contact information
Matveev, Ilya (Матвеев, Илья): The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Konovalov, Ilya (Коновалов, Илья): The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

Working Papers from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration

Abstract: Economic inequality is often portrayed as an objective fact that can only be changed by redistributive policies. This leads economists to link inequality to other strictly economic factors – first and foremost, economic growth. This approach is based on Simon Kuznets’ famous hypothesis on the association between growth and inequality. This association has long been treated as economic in nature: after a certain level of economic development is reached, inequality begins to decline. However, in this paper, we deal with theories that refuse to consider inequality to be a purely economic phenomenon. We focus on Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s model that indicates the Kuznets curve having a political nature. This model treats inequality as a result of the conflict between masses and elites, and suggests searching for a strategic compromise by building democratic institutions. We investigate the model’s assumptions and through studying empirical works we indicate possible ways to advance Acemoglu and Robinson’s theory. We conclude that the model’s basic structure is sound, however, its development requires detailed case studies, not just general econometric analysis. We also claim that Acemoglu and Robinson’s model should involve a more nuanced understanding of the causes and effects of collective action both before and after democratization.

JEL-codes: D31 D74 H23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 pages
Date: 2021-11-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-hpe
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://repec.ranepa.ru/rnp/wpaper/w20220158.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rnp:wpaper:w20220158

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by RANEPA maintainer ().