IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecprf/v15y2012i2p71-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

No taxation, no democracy? Taxation, income inequality, and democracy

Author

Listed:
  • Dae Jin Yi

Abstract

Does taxation promote democracy? Revisiting this question, I hypothesize that the effects of taxation on democracy tend to be relatively stronger in unequal societies because higher income inequality can amplify the extent to which citizens dissatisfied with higher levels of taxation want to soak elites. Using event history models to analyze a pooled time-series dataset of regime transitions that cover all countries from 1970 to 2000 if data are applicable, I find empirical evidence that taxation has a conditional impact on democratization, but not on democratic breakdown. According to the theory, higher taxation levels and greater income inequality should tend to promote democracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Dae Jin Yi, 2012. "No taxation, no democracy? Taxation, income inequality, and democracy," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 71-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecprf:v:15:y:2012:i:2:p:71-92
    DOI: 10.1080/17487870.2012.672252
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17487870.2012.672252
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17487870.2012.672252?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson, 2001. "A Theory of Political Transitions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 938-963, September.
    2. Peter T. Leeson & Andrea M. Dean, 2009. "The Democratic Domino Theory: An Empirical Investigation," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 53(3), pages 533-551, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Muhammed N. Islam, 2016. "Does democracy reduce income inequality?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1299-1318, December.
    2. Jochimsen Beate & Raffer Christian, 2018. "Herausforderungen bei der Messung von Wohlfahrt," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 67(1), pages 63-100, May.
    3. Yucel Demirkclic & Fazli Yildiz & Ersin Nail Sagdic, 2023. "An Analysis of the Relationship Between Taxation and Democracy: The Example of European Union Member and Candidate Countries (2010-2020)," Journal of Economic Policy Researches, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 10(2), pages 457-483, July.
    4. Tugay Gunel & Irem Didinmez, 2022. "Relationship between rule of law and tax revenues: dynamic panel data analysis," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 46(3), pages 403-419.
    5. José Alves & António Afonso, 2019. "Tax structure for consumption and income inequality: an empirical assessment," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 337-364, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doris A. Oberdabernig & Stefan Humer & Jesus Crespo Cuaresma, 2018. "Democracy, Geography and Model Uncertainty," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 65(2), pages 154-185, May.
    2. Muhammad Habibur Rahman & Nejat Anbarci & Prasad Sankar Bhattacharya & Mehmet Ali Ulubaşoğlu, 2017. "Can extreme rainfall trigger democratic change? The role of flood-induced corruption," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 331-358, June.
    3. Fleck, Robert K. & Hanssen, F. Andrew, 2013. "When voice fails: Potential exit as a constraint on government quality," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 26-41.
    4. Muhammad Habibur Rahman & Nejat Anbarci & Prasad Sankar Bhattacharya & Mehmet Ali Ulubaşoğlu, 2017. "The Shocking Origins of Political Transitions: Evidence from Earthquakes," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(3), pages 796-823, January.
    5. Haikun Zhu, 2018. "Social Stability and Resource Allocation within Business Groups," Working Papers Series 79, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    6. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2005. "The Macroeconomics of Child Labor Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1492-1524, December.
    7. Robert MacCulloch & Silvia Pezzini, 2010. "The Roles of Freedom, Growth, and Religion in the Taste for Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 329-358, May.
    8. Mario Gilli & Yuan Li, 2014. "Accountability in One-Party Government: Rethinking the Success of Chinese Economic Reform," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 170(4), pages 616-645, December.
    9. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & …mer Faruk Baykal & Marie-Ange Véganzonès–Varoudakis, 2011. "The Effects of Convergence in Governance on Capital Accumulation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur & David Sunderland (ed.), Does Economic Governance Matter?, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Johannes Blum & Klaus Gründler, 2020. "Political Stability and Economic Prosperity: Are Coups Bad for Growth?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8317, CESifo.
    11. Ahmet Faruk AYSAN & Mustapha Kamel NABLI & Marie‐Ange VÉGANZONÈS‐VAROUDAKIS, 2007. "Governance Institutions And Private Investment: An Application To The Middle East And North Africa," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 45(3), pages 339-377, September.
    12. Sayantan Ghosal & Eugenio Proto, 2006. "Why did (not) the East Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Intra-Elite Conflict and Risk Sharing," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_032, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    13. Dorsch, Michael T. & Maarek, Paul, 2020. "Economic downturns, inequality, and democratic improvements," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    14. Rabah Arezki & Markus Brückner, 2011. "Food prices and political instability," NCID Working Papers 01/2011, Navarra Center for International Development, University of Navarra.
    15. Andrea Asoni, 2008. "Protection Of Property Rights And Growth As Political Equilibria," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 953-987, December.
    16. Markus Brückner & Antonio Ciccone, 2011. "Rain and the Democratic Window of Opportunity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(3), pages 923-947, May.
    17. Gonzalez, Felipe & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Police Repression and Protest Behavior: Evidence from Student Protests in Chile," SocArXiv 3xk5r, Center for Open Science.
    18. Lisa Cook, 2014. "Violence and economic activity: evidence from African American patents, 1870–1940," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 221-257, June.
    19. repec:zbw:rwirep:0298 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Matthias Doepke, 2004. "Accounting for Fertility Decline During the Transition to Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 347-383, September.
    21. Pal Sudeshna, 2011. "Media Freedom and Socio-Political Instability," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jecprf:v:15:y:2012:i:2:p:71-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GPRE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.