This paper explores the extent to which episodes of democratization can be explained by variation in income inequality … mis-specified models. Guided by a theoretical nuance of the new economic view of democratization proposed by Acemoglu and … Robinson (2001), our empirical examination considers the possibility that the effect of income inequality on democratization …

regime changes are often followed by redistribution to the poor at the expense of the former elite. We argue that the reason … why the elite may have to resort to full-scale democratization, despite its apparent costs to themselves, may be that …Regimes controlled by a rich elite often collapse and make way for democracy amidst widespread social unrest. Such …

We conduct a laboratory experiment to study how demand for redistribution of income depends on self-interest, insurance … is affected by redistribution. We estimate utility weights for the different sources of demand for redistribution, with …

redistribution. Estimating a DSGE model with microdata on the support for redistribution, I find that if voters disregarded their … ideological views on welfare policies, redistribution in the US would increase 117%. Because ideology is a more important … on redistribution. Among the drivers of ideology, I find that racial animosity and distrust of the government contributes …