Book · 2008 · intermediate level
Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age
Larry M. Bartels
- Venue
- Princeton University Press (rev. ed. 2016)
- Link
- publisher / source page
Citation count not independently verified
We only publish a number when we have checked it ourselves. None was confirmed for this work at the last review.
In plain language
Shows income growth for the bottom 80% of U.S. earners has been systematically faster under Democratic presidents since the 1940s, and that voters often fail to hold officials accountable for economic outcomes in ways that would discipline this pattern.
Technical summary
Long-run partisan comparison of income growth by income quintile across post-WWII U.S. administrations, combined with analysis of voter accountability and economic perception.
Key takeaways
- Widely described as 'an instant classic' establishing partisan policy differences as a real driver of distributional outcomes.
Themes
Related works
- Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens — Martin Gilens & Benjamin I. Page, 2014
- Winner-Take-All Politics: Public Policy, Political Organization, and the Precipitous Rise of Top Incomes in the United States — Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, 2010