Distributive Policies Research Articles

The surprising reduction of inequality during a commodity boom: what do we learn from Latin America?

ABSTRACT Past experience and economic theory lead us to expect a positive relationship between income inequality and commodity booms. Yet Latin America’s recent improvement in income distribution coincided with a rapid growth in commodity exports. How was this positive outcome possible? This paper answers this question using a combination of primary and secondary sources. It highlights the role of (re)distributive policies that enlarged the impact of labour market outcomes. The paper concludes that political pressures forced governments to manage the commodity boom better than in the past but did not lead to significant transformations in the region’s elite-driven development model.

How Fair Is It? An Experimental Study of Perceived Fairness of Distributive Policies

How do people evaluate fairness of redistributive policies when redistribution is considered multidimensional? We estimate the effect of distributive policies on the top- and bottom-income groups, ...

Bargaining in legislatures over private and public goods with endogenous recognition

This paper studies a sequential model of multilateral bargaining under majority rule in which legislators make decisions in both private and public good dimensions via an endogenous recognition process. Legislators can expend resources to become the proposer and to make proposals about the allocation of private and public goods. We show that legislators exert unproductive effort to be the proposer and make proposals in both dimensions depending on legislative preferences. Effort choices in equilibrium depend mainly on preferences in both distributional and ideological dimensions as well as the patience level of legislators and the legislature’s size. We also show that in a diverse legislature it may be possible to observe distributive policies when the majority of legislators have collective-leaning preferences, or vice versa.

O social e o comum: neoliberalismo, biopolítica e renda universal

Resumo Diante da rarefação das possibilidades de expansão da proteção social no Brasil, especialmente a partir de 2016, o principal esteio para a luta política eficaz em matéria de direitos sociais consistiria aparentemente em reagir contra as reformas neoliberais do Estado brasileiro, restaurando os pilares do Welfare State e de sua lógica de workfare. A partir de um instrumento concreto - a renda universal - este artigo propõe deslocar o centro do debate na direção de uma pauta política positiva, lastreada no conceito de comum, superando os traços de condicionalidade e focalismo das políticas distributivas tradicionais. Cruzando análise de conjuntura e pesquisa bibliográfica, o tema é discutido previamente nos quadros teóricos da crítica biopolítica ao neoliberalismo (Lazzarato, Hardt e Negri, Dardot e Laval); descreve-se a renda universal como uma linha de ataque biopolítico apta a catalisar uma instituição do comum, encerrando uma alternativa ao dualismo mistificador entre neoliberalismo e welfarismo.

A Signaling Theory of Distributive Policy Choice: Evidence from Senegal

A recent literature emphasizes political economy factors behind the wave of administrative splits across the developing world. While previous studies have focused on why some groups are more likely...

Promoting quality education in Chile: the politics of reforming teacher careers

ABSTRACT Reformers in developing countries increasingly seek to raise education quality. Yet we know little about the politics of improving education. One significant and instructive case of reforms designed to boost education quality comes from Chile, where in 2016 the government enacted a sweeping reform of teaching careers. This paper first uses a quantitative analysis of appearances in the news to identify key stakeholders and then turns to process tracing to analyze how and when these stakeholders influenced reform dynamics. Comparatively, the Chilean case differs from similar reforms elsewhere in Latin America due to the absence of business, the strong role of policy networks, and the final negotiated settlement with the teacher union. Theoretically, the analysis confirms general theories that emphasize the roles of distributive politics and policy networks.

Functional distribution of income and growth regime in Peru, 1942-2013

This paper begins by reviewing the literature on the relation between economic growth and the functional distribution of income since the time of the classical economists, highlighting the work of Kalecki and the post-Keynesians who develop the growthregimes approach. It reconstructs and analyses statistics on the shares of wages, income from self-employment (or from mixed sources) and profits in Peru’s GDP between 1942 and 2013, and then compares these shares with the averages for Latin America and other economies. The study then makes a comparative analysis of trends in the wage share and rate of growth, and it estimates a simultaneous equations model using three-stage least squares (3SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) to determine the growth regime. The conclusion is that growth is wage-led, so distributional policies to increase this component would likely boost the level of economic activity.

The Social Cost of Carbon and Inequality: When Local Redistribution Shapes Global Carbon Prices

The social cost of carbon is the central economic measure for aggregate climate change damages and functions as a metric for optimal carbon prices. Previous literature shows that inequality significantly influences the level of the social cost of carbon, but mostly neglects a major source of inequality - heterogeneity in income below the national level. We characterize the relationship between climate and redistributional policy in an optimal taxation model that explicitly accounts for inequality between and within countries. In particular, we demonstrate that climate and distributional policy cannot be separated when national governments fail to compensate low-income households for climate change damages: Even if only one country does not compensate especially affected households, the social cost of carbon increases globally. Further, we use numerical methods to estimate the scope of these effects. Our results suggest that it is crucial to correct previous estimates of the social cost of carbon for national distributional policies.

Does Local Representation Matter?

We investigate whether geographic representation affects local voting behavior in closed-list proportional representation (PR) systems, where conventional theoretical wisdom suggests a limited role of localism in voter preferences. Using detailed data on Norwegian parliamentary candidates’ hometowns, we show that parties engage in geographic balancing when constructing candidate lists. However, because most districts contain more municipalities than seats, not all municipalities will ultimately see a local candidate elected. A regression discontinuity design applied to marginal candidates reveals that parties obtain higher within-district support in subsequent elections in incumbents’ hometowns—novel evidence of “friends-and-neighbors” voting in an otherwise party-centered environment. Exploring the mechanisms, we find that represented municipalities often continue to have locally-connected candidates in top positions, in contrast to municipalities with losing candidates, and are more frequently referenced in legislative speeches. There is no evidence that unequal representation creates inequalities in distributive policies.

Measuring social justice in the light of effectiveness of public distributive policy

Purpose - Our paper stems from the basis of the fundamental principles of equity theory and other justice theories. It suggests integral index of social justice that includes two partial indices: observance of fundamental rights and distribution of socio-economic achievements. Design/methodology/approach – We employ the index method based on normalization of partial indices according to their impact on overall social justice. For computing the integral index of social justice (ISJ) we select countries with obvious links between economic outcomes and efficiency of social sphere regulation (16 EU Member States). We use the data from Global Competitiveness Report which are the most appropriate to components of partial indices. Findings – We assessed the level of social justice basing on the case study of the EU Member States which demonstrate the most obvious relationship of economic efficiency and quality of social sphere regulation. The research confirmed that the economic leadership of the countries has a close connection with social justice in the respective society. At the same time, targeting and ensuring the effectiveness of the state distribution policy in terms of availability of socio-economic benefits beyond the minimum social guarantees is still inferior to efforts aimed at creating an infrastructure for social support of the population and guarantees of fundamental rights and freedoms. Originality/value – We suggest a unique method that allows to identify the reserves of the state distributive mechanisms' improvement and to analyse the links of social justice of the living environment and doing business with the economic successes of the states. Our approach to determining the weighting factors and the composition of the indicators according to the social justice categories can be specified depending on the research objectives.

Is it possible to achieve a good life for all within planetary boundaries?

The safe and just space framework devised by Raworth calls for the world’s nations to achieve key minimum thresholds in social welfare while remaining within planetary boundaries. Using data on social and biophysical indicators provided by O’Neill et al., this paper argues that it is theoretically possible to achieve a good life for all within planetary boundaries in poor nations by building on existing exemplary models and by adopting fairer distributive policies. However, the additional biophysical pressure that this entails at a global level requires that rich nations dramatically reduce their biophysical footprints by 40–50%. Extant empirical studies suggest that this degree of reduction is unlikely to be achieved solely through efforts to decouple GDP growth from environmental impact, even under highly optimistic conditions. Therefore, for rich nations to fit within the boundaries of the safe and just space will require that they abandon growth as a policy objective and shift to post-capitalist economic models.

Public Goods, Private Partnerships, and Political Institutions

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become an essential vehicle for infrastructure development worldwide. Theoretical arguments primarily focus on build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreements as a canonical form of PPP, though they rarely discuss the political underpinnings of governments' decisions to enter such agreements. How does a government's longevity, stability and its capacity to raise revenue make BOTs more attractive than other types of partnerships? Extending recent theoretical advances through concepts of control rights and veto players and statistically analyzing a database of more than 4,300 PPP agreements for new construction of infrastructure in 83 developing economies between 1990-2014, I provide the first large-scale quantitative evidence of the influence of political institutions on government choices to adopt BOTs. I find that BOTs are less attractive as the tenure of the longest-serving veto player increases, when veto players are more frequently replaced, and when governments can generate more tax revenue, but more likely when that revenue is above a country's historic average. My findings contribute to literatures on distributive public policy, hybrid governance, complex project management, and to the policy debate about the role of PPPs in economic development.

Expression and Indication in Ethics and Political Philosophy

We sometimes have reasons to perform actions due to what they would communicate. Those who have discussed such reasons have understood what an action ‘communicates’ as what it conventionally expresses. Brennan and Jaworski argue that when a convention ensures that expressing the appropriate thing would be costly, we should change or flout the convention. I argue that what really matters is often what attitudes we indicate rather than conventionally express, using social science to show that indicating our attitudes is often unavoidably costly, and sometimes worth the cost. I use this account to defend communicative arguments for egalitarian distributive policies.

On the (De-)Fragmentation of Statehood in Europe: Reflections on Ernst-Wolfgang BBckenffrde's Work on European Integration

It has become a standard critique of European integration that the upward transfer of sovereignty in market-related matters leads to the fragmentation of statehood between the supranational, European level and the largely incapacitated nation-states that retain jurisdiction over social and distributive policies. My article takes up this critique in the elaborate version of one of Germany’s leading post-war constitutional theorists, Ernst-Wolfgang Bockenforde, whose approach has been influential in how German constitutionalism relates to the project of European unification. In this account, vertical integration uses law to sever economics from democratic politics, fragments the concern for the common good of citizens and undermines the unity of statehood. I contrast this account to instances of horizontal fragmentation of statehood, such as those underway in member-states such as Hungary or Poland where the nation state’s constitutional structures are coming undone at the hands of authoritarian populists. The European Union’s role of defending the rule of law within its constitutive states seeks to restore their normative integrity and, as such, is best understood as a role of vertical de-fragmentation of political and constitutional transformations at the domestic level. The question if statehood can be established at the European level gains greater urgency and complexity in light of these developments.

On the (De-)Fragmentation of Statehood in Europe: Reflections on Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde's Work on European Integration

It has become a standard critique of European integration that the upward transfer of sovereignty in market-related matters leads to the fragmentation of statehood between the supranational, European level and the largely incapacitated nation-states that retain jurisdiction over social and distributive policies. My article takes up this critique in the elaborate version of one of Germany's leading post-war constitutional theorists, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, whose approach has been influential in how German constitutionalism relates to the project of European unification. In this account, vertical integration uses law to sever economics from democratic politics, fragments the concern for the common good of citizens and undermines the unity of statehood. I contrast this account to instances of horizontal fragmentation of statehood, such as those underway in member-states such as Hungary or Poland where the nation state's constitutional structures are coming undone at the hands of authoritarian populists. The European Union's role of defending the rule of law within its constitutive states seeks to restore their normative integrity and, as such, is best understood as a role of verticalde-fragmentationof political and constitutional transformations at the domestic level. The question if statehood can be established at the European level gains greater urgency and complexity in light of these developments.

Recasting Pensions in Europe: Policy Challenges and Political Strategies to Pass Reforms

Recasting Pensions in Europe: Policy Challenges and Political Strategies to Pass Reforms

ШКОЛьНАЯ ПОЛИТИКА: ОПРЕДЕЛЕНИЕ СТРУКТУРЫ И ПРОГНОЗ РАЗВИТИЯ

For the sustainable development of society and the realization of the goal of improving the qualityof education, it becomes important to define and develop not only the state policy in the field of education,but also the school policy of the republic as a whole and of each secondary educational institutionof the republic too. In this article, we examine the structure and generalize the types of school policy inKazakhstan. The purpose of the article is to develop the structure of school policy and to generalize theexperience of modern Kazakhstan schools in defining school policy, to offer recommendations for thedevelopment of school policy.School policy is defined in two levels of implementation and development: state school policy andthe school policy of the institution. The school policy of the institution is determined by the state schoolpolicy and is changed in accordance with the specifics of the type of the particular school. The structureof the school policy is determined by the elements – personnel policy, academic and methodical policy,upbringing policy, distributive and resource policy. At the level of the state school policy, the “Generalstrategies and priorities for the development of school education” are additionally set out. At the policylevel of a particular school – “School traditions and strategies and directions for the development of aparticular school”, taking into account the features of the school.In the article recommendations for the developmento of school policy of Kazakshan are offered.Key words: school policy, academic policy, school, personnel policy, academic and methodicalpolicy, upbringing policy.

Local Candidates and Distributive Politics Under Closed-List Proportional Representation

Geographic representation is an important consideration in candidate nominations, even under closed-list proportional representation (PR), and may even matter for distributive policy outcomes. However, since nominations are determined strategically, the causal effects of local representation are difficult to identify. We investigate the relationship between local representation and electoral and distributive politics in the closed-list PR setting of Norway. Exploiting as-good-as-random election outcomes for marginal candidates, we find that parties obtain higher support in subsequent elections in the hometowns of narrowly-elected candidates. This effect appears to be driven by the local candidate appearing at the top of the party list in the next election. However, we find no evidence that representation results in geographically targeted policy benefits going to the candidates’ hometowns.

Land use, energy retraining and new instruments of negotiation in Italy: The case of Trieste

The paper discusses the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) not only as a planning instrument related to land use and development purposes, but also as an instrument of energy policy related to building energy retraining, as it has been developed in the frame of the new Piano Regolatore Generale Comunale (Municipality Land Use Plan) of Trieste, a city in the North-East of Italy.In this case study TDR is developed as a hybrid instrument, aimed at regulating, motivating and negotiating at the same time. Its working strategy can be considered as an anomalous distributive policy which shares costs and benefits among the actors involved in the instrument implementation through a market-led mechanism, producing several possible types of outcomes. One of the main issues is that the capability of the instrument to self-regulate itself during the implementation phase seems to be very hard to achieve. As a consequence, the role of public authorities in the implementation phase remains an open issue.

Political Dynasties in Democracies: Causes, Consequences and Remaining Puzzles

Kinship often continues to play an important role in determining the ruling class even under modern democratic elections in a wide range of countries. In recent years, academic interest in the causes and consequences of such dynasties has been rapidly expanding. In this introduction to the Feature, we review existing work on political dynasties’ formation and potential implications for socio‐economic outcomes (such as economic growth, distributive policy, and gender representation), and outline a number of questions and challenges that remain important avenues for future research.