Greater democracy increases the voice of the people, creating political contestation and participation, and leading to pro-labor institutional changes, higher wages and lower inequality. Political voice may therefore have a redistributive effect that is independent of redistribution through...

This paper establishes the presence of the Kuznets curve in industrializing Britain, with inequality falling from 1867-68, at the same time the electorate was doubled. It weighs the relative importance of franchise extension against other variables in explaining the start of the downward...