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Economic Inequality and Political Representation

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  • Bartels, Larry

    (2005-08)

Abstract

I examine the differential responsiveness of U.S. senators to the preferences of wealthy, middle-class, and poor constituents. My analysis includes broad summary measures of senators' voting behavior as well as specific votes on the minimum wage, civil rights, government spending, and abortion. In almost every instance, senators appear to be considerably more responsive to the opinions of affluent constituents than to the opinions of middle-class constituents, while the opinions of constituents in the bottom third of the income distribution have no apparent statistical effect on their senators' roll call votes. Disparities in representation are especially pronounced for Republican senators, who were more than twice as responsive as Democratic senators to the ideological views of affluent constituents. These income-based disparities in representation appear to be unrelated to disparities in turnout and political knowledge and only weakly related to disparities in the extent of constituents' contact with senators and their staffs.

Suggested Citation

  • Bartels, Larry, 2005. "Economic Inequality and Political Representation," Papers 08-11-2005, Princeton University, Research Program in Political Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:prirpe:08-11-2005
    as

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    File URL: http://www.princeton.edu/~bartels/economic.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Stephen Ansolabehere & John M. de Figueiredo & James M. Snyder Jr, 2003. "Why is There so Little Money in U.S. Politics?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 105-130, Winter.
    2. Stimson, James A. & Mackuen, Michael B. & Erikson, Robert S., 1995. "Dynamic Representation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 543-565, September.
    3. Bartels, Larry M., 1991. "Constituency Opinion and Congressional Policy Making: The Reagan Defense Buildup," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(2), pages 457-474, June.
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    5. Hall, Richard L. & Wayman, Frank W., 1990. "Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 84(3), pages 797-820, September.
    6. Carmines, Edward G. & Stimson, James A., 1980. "The Two Faces of Issue Voting," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(1), pages 78-91, March.
    7. Miller, Warren E. & Stokes, Donald E., 1963. "Constituency Influence in Congress," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 45-56, March.
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Links of the Week - 10 May 2013
      by Jonas Feit in Conscience Warrior on 2013-05-13 01:30:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Schroyen, Fred & Treich, Nicolas, 2016. "The power of money: Wealth effects in contests," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 46-68.
    2. Malte Luebker, 2014. "Income Inequality, Redistribution, and Poverty: Contrasting Rational Choice and Behavioral Perspectives," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 133-154, March.
    3. Ann-Sofie Isaksson & Andreas Kotsadam & M�ns Nerman, 2014. "The Gender Gap in African Political Participation: Testing Theories of Individual and Contextual Determinants," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 302-318, February.
    4. Malte Luebker, 2014. "Income Inequality, Redistribution, and Poverty: Contrasting Rational Choice and Behavioral Perspectives," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(1), pages 133-154, March.
    5. Isaksson, Ann-Sofie, 2010. "Political participation in Africa: Participatory inequalities and the role of resources," Working Papers in Economics 462, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics, revised 01 Oct 2010.
    6. repec:unu:wpaper:wp2012-44 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. repec:ilo:ilowps:471001 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Mayank GUPTA, 2015. "Revisiting Neoclassical Economic Growth: A Survey in the Literature," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 118-136, March.
    9. Bogdan-Lucian Dospinescu, 2015. "Business Cycles, Electoral Cycles. Toward A Theoretical Frame Of Interaction," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0, pages 170-177, July.
    10. Matteo Bassi, 2008. "I Will Survive: Capital Taxation, Voter Turnout and Time Inconsistency," CSEF Working Papers 206, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.

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