Unequal Democracy (08 Edition)

"Unequal Democracy is the sort of book to which every political scientist should aspire--it is methodologically rigorous, conceptually serious, and above all, it addresses urgent concerns of our fellow citizens. As Bartels shows, much of what we think we know about the politics of economic inequality is dead wrong. Bartels's perplexing and often unexpected discoveries should help refocus the gathering public debate about inequality and what to do about it."--Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone

"This is a fantastic book, a real tour de force. It is a hugely important study of increasing economic inequality in America and the failure of the political system to mitigate its effects on poor citizens. It is the best work that has been done on the political economy of income inequality."--Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution

"Unequal Democracy completes the story of why America's wealthy have become superrich. As Larry Bartels, one of the nation's top political scientists, convincingly demonstrates, the rich get richer when the Republicans are in power and when the less affluent fail to vote. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants answers to why so many of America's working- and middle-class families are struggling to get by."--Thomas E. Patterson, Harvard University

"Economists tend to see economic inequality as the unhappy but unavoidable result of markets--working-class people have to become relatively poorer because they are competing in a globalized world. This book suggests that economists are wrong and that the growing inequality in America is not the product of world forces but of Republican administrations during which income grows more slowly, inequality soars, and no one notices because they pump up the economy during election years. Low-income people have very little influence but which party is in power makes a vast difference for their fate. If you care about economic justice, you need to seriously examine the powerful data in this book and recognize that we can choose a better, fairer society."--Gary Orfield, University of California, Los Angeles

"No political scientist is more widely or rightly respected than Larry Bartels, and Unequal Democracy is a brilliant book that only he could have written. The book proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the main fault for sizable socioeconomic inequalities in America lies not in our economy but in our increasingly polarized and partisan politics. With intellectual force, Unequal Democracy pulls back the sheets on Washington's pamper-the-rich policy process and offers ideas about how we can do better by average citizens and the poor. It is Bartels at his very best, and his very best is the best there is."--John J. DiIulio, Jr., University of Pennsylvania, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

"This is a fantastic book, a real tour de force. It is a hugely important study of increasing economic inequality in America and the failure of the political system to mitigate its effects on poor citizens. It is the best work that has been done on the political economy of income inequality."--Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution

"Unequal Democracy completes the story of why America's wealthy have become superrich. As Larry Bartels, one of the nation's top political scientists, convincingly demonstrates, the rich get richer when the Republicans are in power and when the less affluent fail to vote. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants answers to why so many of America's working- and middle-class families are struggling to get by."--Thomas E. Patterson, Harvard University

"Economists tend to see economic inequality as the unhappy but unavoidable result of markets--working-class people have to become relatively poorer because they are competing in a globalized world. This book suggests that economists are wrong and that the growing inequality in America is not the product of world forces but of Republican administrations during which income grows more slowly, inequality soars, and no one notices because they pump up the economy during election years. Low-income people have very little influence but which party is in power makes a vast difference for their fate. If you care about economic justice, you need to seriously examine the powerful data in this book and recognize that we can choose a better, fairer society."--Gary Orfield, University of California, Los Angeles

"No political scientist is more widely or rightly respected than Larry Bartels, and Unequal Democracy is a brilliant book that only he could have written. The book proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the main fault for sizable socioeconomic inequalities in America lies not in our economy but in our increasingly polarized and partisan politics. With intellectual force, Unequal Democracy pulls back the sheets on Washington's pamper-the-rich policy process and offers ideas about how we can do better by average citizens and the poor. It is Bartels at his very best, and his very best is the best there is."--John J. DiIulio, Jr., University of Pennsylvania, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

Bartels demonstrates that elected officials respond to the views of affluent constituents but ignore the views of poor people. He shows that Republican presidents in particular have consistently produced much less income growth for middle-class and working-poor families than for affluent families, greatly increasing inequality. He provides revealing case studies of key policy shifts contributing to inequality, including the massive Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 and the erosion of the minimum wage. Finally, he challenges conventional explanations for why many voters seem to vote against their own economic interests, contending that working-class voters have not been lured into the Republican camp by "values issues" like abortion and gay marriage, as commonly believed, but that Republican presidents have been remarkably successful in timing income growth to cater to short-sighted voters.

Unequal Democracy is social science at its very best. It provides a deep and searching analysis of the political causes and consequences of America's growing income gap, and a sobering assessment of the capacity of the American political system to live up to its democratic ideals.

Preface ix

Chapter 1. The New Gilded Age 1

Escalating Economic Inequality 6

Interpreting Inequality 13

Economic Inequality as a Po litical Issue 19

Inequality and American Democracy 23

Chapter 2. The Partisan Political Economy 29

Partisan Patterns of Income Growth 31

A Partisan Coincidence? 34

Partisan Differences in Macroeconomic Policy 42

Macroeconomic Per for mance and Income Growth 47

Partisan Policies and Post- Tax Income Growth 54

Democrats, Republicans, and the Rise of In equality 61

Chapter 3. Class Politics and Partisan Change 64

In Search of the Working Class 66

Has the White Working Class Abandoned the Democratic Party? 72

Have Working- Class Whites Become More Conservative? 78

Do "Moral Values" Trump Economics? 83

Are Religious Voters Distracted from Economic Issues? 90

Class Politics, Alive and Well 93

Chapter 4. Partisan Biases in Economic Accountability 98

Myopic Voters 99

The Political Timing of Income Growth 104

Class Biases in Economic Voting 110

The Wealthy Give Something Back: Partisan Biases in Campaign Spending 116

Political Consequences of Biased Accountability 120

Chapter 5. Do Americans Care about In equality? 127

Egalitarian Values 130

Rich and Poor 136

Perceptions of Inequality 143

Facts and Values in the Realm of In equality 148

Chapter 6. Homer Gets a Tax Cut 162

The Bush Tax Cuts 164

Public Support for the Tax Cuts 170

Unenlightened Self- Interest 176

The Impact of Political Information 181

Chump Change 186

Into the Sunset 193

Chapter 7. The Strange Appeal of Estate Tax Repeal 197

Public Support for Estate Tax Repeal 198

Is Public Support for Repeal a Product of Misinformation? 205

Did Interest Groups Manufacture Public Antipathy to the Estate Tax? 214

Elite Ideology and the Politics of Estate Tax Repeal 217

Chapter 8. The Eroding Minimum Wage 223

The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage 227

Public Support for the Minimum Wage 229

The Politics of Inaction 232

Democrats, Unions, and the Eroding Minimum Wage 239

The Earned Income Tax Credit 246

Reversing the Tide 247

Chapter 9. Economic Inequality and Po litical Representation 252

Ideological Representation 254

Unequal Responsiveness 257

Unequal Responsiveness on Social Issues: The Case of Abortion 265

Partisan Differences in Repre sen ta tion 267

Why Are the Poor Unrepresented? 275

10. Unequal Democracy 283

Who Governs? 285

Partisan Politics and the "Have- Nots" 288

Political Obstacles to Economic Equality 294

The City of Utmost Necessity 298

Selected References 305

Index 317