The type of right-wing government and the decline of middle-income strata in industrialized democracies

"Although the decline of middle-income strata (or polarization in income distribution) is an increasingly widespread phenomenon across industrialized democracies, it remains understudied compared to other forms of income inequality. I analyzed the decline of middle-income strata among 18 indust...

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Main Author: Byun, Young-hwan
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Luxembourg 2018
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Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19399574124911177569-The-type-of-right-wing-governm.htm
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author Byun, Young-hwan
author_facet Byun, Young-hwan
collection Library items
description "Although the decline of middle-income strata (or polarization in income distribution) is an increasingly widespread phenomenon across industrialized democracies, it remains understudied compared to other forms of income inequality. I analyzed the decline of middle-income strata among 18 industrialized democracies between 1971 and 2010. Whereas previous research claimed that income polarization is a common development, brought upon by global market integration or skill-biased technological change, I found significant cross-country variation in the extent of polarization among the 18 cases. My findings suggest that that the type of party government—in particular, whether the dominant right-wing party is Christian or secular—is associated with divergent outcomes in the degree of income polarization. I argue that secular-right governments have facilitated income polarization by undermining centralized wage-bargaining and social-insurance benefit generosity. In contrast, by maintaining these institutional arrangements, Christian Democratic governments have tempered polarization trends in the market, resulting in relatively larger middle-income strata."
format TEXT
geographic developed countries
id 19399574124911177569_c12ec64aeeb44d499c53507201648f66
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19399574124911177569_c12ec64aeeb44d499c53507201648f66
is_hierarchy_title The type of right-wing government and the decline of middle-income strata in industrialized democracies
language English
physical 36 p.
Digital
publishDate 2018
publisher Luxembourg
LIS
spellingShingle Byun, Young-hwan
income distribution
social inequality
extremism
The type of right-wing government and the decline of middle-income strata in industrialized democracies
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=133353595153
title The type of right-wing government and the decline of middle-income strata in industrialized democracies
topic income distribution
social inequality
extremism
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19399574124911177569-The-type-of-right-wing-governm.htm