Income Inequality, Redistribution and Poverty: Contrasting Rational Choice and Behavioural Perspectives

Malte Lübker
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Malte Luebker

No wp-2012-044, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Based on the standard axiom of individual utility maximization, rational choice has postulated that higher income inequality translates into greater redistribution by shaping the median voter's preferences. While numerous papers have tested this proposition, the literature has remained divided over the appropriate measure for redistribution. Revisiting the original contribution by Meltzer and Richard, the present paper argues that the median voter hypothesis implies that relative redistribution should increase in line with inequality.

Keywords: Distribution; Equality and inequality; Income distribution; Voting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/wp2012-044.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Income Inequality, Redistribution, and Poverty: Contrasting Rational Choice and Behavioral Perspectives (2014)
Working Paper: Income Inequality, Redistribution and Poverty. Contrasting Rational Choice and Behavioural Perspectives (2012)
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:unu:wpaper:wp-2012-044

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Siméon Rapin ().