Democratization and inequality: Empirical evidence for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries

Abstract

The correlation between democracy and income inequality, as well as the direction of causation is still debated. In this paper, we conduct a dynamic panel data analysis for all 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member states over the period 1960–2012 and illustrate a nonmonotonic relationship between inequality and democracy, as well as test the direction of causation by employing a noncausal homogeneity test in a panel Granger framework and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin noncausal heterogeneity test. We provide an explanation for the inverted U-shaped relation. In addition, we illustrate individual regression results for 12 exemplary Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries and provide a concise illustration of the economic and political changes to which countries have been subjected while elaborating the effect of the underlying policies on democracy and income equality.