Unequal democracy : the political economy of the new gilded age
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Unequal democracy : the political economy of the new gilded age
Russell Sage Foundation , Princeton University Press, c2016
2nd ed
- : hardcover
Available at / 8 libraries
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National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies Library (GRIPS Library)
: hardcover332.53||B2501418075
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [367]-383) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The first edition of Unequal Democracy was an instant classic, shattering illusions about American democracy and spurring scholarly and popular interest in the political causes and consequences of escalating economic inequality. This revised and expanded edition includes two new chapters on the political economy of the Obama era. One presents the Great Recession as a "stress test" of the American political system by analyzing the 2008 election and the impact of Barack Obama's "New New Deal" on the economic fortunes of the rich, middle class, and poor. The other assesses the politics of inequality in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2012 election, and the partisan gridlock of Obama's second term. Larry Bartels offers a sobering account of the barriers to change posed by partisan ideologies and the political power of the wealthy. He also provides new analyses of tax policy, partisan differences in economic performance, the struggle to raise the minimum wage, and inequalities in congressional representation. President Obama identified inequality as "the defining challenge of our time."
Unequal Democracy is the definitive account of how and why our political system has failed to rise to that challenge. Now more than ever, this is a book every American needs to read.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Second Edition xi Preface to the First Edition xv 1 The New Gilded Age 1 Escalating Economic Inequality 7 Interpreting Inequality 16 Economic Inequality as a Political Issue 23 Inequality and American Democracy 28 2 The Partisan Political Economy 33 Partisan Patterns of Income Growth 35 A Partisan Coincidence? 38 Partisan Differences in Macroeconomic Policy 48 Macroeconomic Performance and Income Growth 52 Do Presidents Still Matter? 57 Partisan Redistribution 62 Democrats, Republicans, and the Rise of Inequality 69 3 Partisan Biases in Economic Accountability 74 Myopic Voters 76 The Electoral Timing of Income Growth 82 Class Biases in Economic Voting 87 The Wealthy Give Something Back: Partisan Biases in Campaign Spending 93 The Political Consequences of Biased Accountability 98 4 Do Americans Care about Inequality? 105 Egalitarian Values 108 Rich and Poor 113 Perceptions of Inequality 118 Facts and Values in the Realm of Inequality 124 5 Homer Gets a Tax Cut 136 The Bush Tax Cuts 138 Public Support for the Tax Cuts 144 Unenlightened Self-Interest 150 The Impact of Political Information 155 The Long Sunset 163 6 The Strange Appeal of Estate Tax Repeal 170 Public Support for Estate Tax Repeal 173 Is Public Support for Repeal a Product of Misinformation? 181 Did Interest Groups Manufacture Public Antipathy to the Estate Tax? 189 Elite Ideology and the Politics of Estate Tax Repeal 193 7 The Eroding Minimum Wage 198 The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage 202 Public Support for the Minimum Wage 205 The Politics of Congressional Inaction 209 Democrats, Unions, and the Eroding Minimum Wage 217 Local Action 223 The Earned Income Tax Credit 228 8 Economic Inequality and Political Representation 233 Congressional Representation 235 Unequal Responsiveness 239 Partisan Differences in Responsiveness 248 Systemic Responsiveness 249 Plutocracy? 254 Why the Poor Are Unrepresented 257 9 Stress Test: The Political Economy of the Great Recession 269 The 2008 Election and "the New New Deal" 274 Reaction and Gridlock 281 The Political Impact of the Recession 286 But Did It Work? 295 Geithner's World 301 Not the New New Deal 305 10 The Defining Challenge of Our Time? 309 A "National Conversation"? 311 The Class War Gets Personal: Inequality as an Issue in the 2012 Campaign 315 Obama and Inequality 329 The Political Challenge 334 11 Unequal Democracy 342 Who Governs? 344 Partisan Politics and the "Have-nots" 347 Political Obstacles to Economic Equality 352 The City of Utmost Necessity 358 Postscript 365 References 367 Index 385
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