Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: What Determines Attitudes towards Income Inequality during Economic Development?

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

Income inequality has been hypothesized to explain redistributive policies and the form of government around the world. According to the classic literature on the political economy of redistribution, one would expect that greater income inequality leads to greater redistribution, and the failure to meet the redistribution demand leads to social turmoil and even regime changes. The empirical evidence, however, shows that more equal societies have greater redistribution, and there is a significant unexplained variation in the effects of inequality within non-democratic regimes. One potential explanation of the mixed evidence is that there is variation in attitude toward inequality across societies, time and individuals. To further our understanding of inequality, this study proposes a theoretical framework for the variation in inequality aversion and examines the question empirically in contemporary China. As a result of this work, social scientists will be able to draw more precise causal inferences about the relationships between inequality and individual prferences and their consequent political behaviors. To extend current theories, this project seeks to answer the following question: what explains the variation in individuals' sentiments toward income inequality during economic development? The theoretical explanation for this variation emphasizes two factors. First, the prospect of upward mobility leads to a positive view on inequality, which is largely in line with previous literature. Second, individuals use equality of opportunity as a principle of fairness to form their attitudes toward income inequality. That is, individuals' opinions rely of whether they think the poor should be responsible for their own deprivation. This approach combines both the rational choice account and recent theories from behavioral studies. In particular, this argument analyzes an often overlooked factor in previous studies, that is, the role government in distributing unequal economic opportunities across individuals. Empirically, China was chosen as the case to be examined because inequality of opportunity is the key source of income inequality there. A national survey is used to explore the subnational variation. Limitations of previous studies are overcome by using objective meaures of both individual upward mobility and inequality of opportunity as my key explanatory variables. This project not only makes a contribution to the social sciences in general, but it also can shed some light on the trajectory of Chinese society. Economic development is the most salient change in Chinese society in the last three decades. Rising inequality, accompanied by economic development, has been drawing greater attention within Chinese society. The results of this project helps us understand it consequences for social, economic, and policy stability in China. Hence, this project generates some valuable insights for social scientists and policymakers with an interest in social, economic, and political development in China as well as other developing countries.