TY  - GEN
AB  - Recent studies puzzle over why it is that democratically elected governments have not responded to rising inequality by engaging in more redistribution. While some scholars argue that low- and middle-income citizens have not responded to rising inequality in the way we would expect, others argue that policymakers are not responsive to the demands of these citizens. We argue that both solutions to the “lack-of-redistribution puzzle” leave something to be desired and that variation across policy domains sheds new light on the issues at stake in this debate. Based on an original 2019 survey replicating questions asked by the European Social Survey in 2008, we show that support for progressive income taxation and more egalitarian unemployment insurance has increased in most West European countries since 2008. Tax policy has moved in the same direction as public opinion, but unemployment policy has not. We conclude that public opinion should be conceived as a constraint on policymakers motivated by political-economy considerations rather than a driver of policy developments.
AD  - Haute Ecole et Ecole Supérieure de Travail Social–HES-SO
AD  - University of Geneva
AD  - University of Geneva
AU  - Rosset, Jan
AU  - Poltier, Jérémie
AU  - Pontusson, Jonas
CY  - Thousand Oaks, CA
DA  - 2024-11
ID  - 15445
JF  - Politics & society
KW  - Travail social
KW  - income inequality
KW  - unequal representation
KW  - public opinion
KW  - progressive taxation
KW  - unemployment compensation
L1  - https://arodes.hes-so.ch/record/15445/files/Rosset_2024_Unevenly%20unequal%20responsiveness.pdf
L2  - https://arodes.hes-so.ch/record/15445/files/Rosset_2024_Unevenly%20unequal%20responsiveness.pdf
L4  - https://arodes.hes-so.ch/record/15445/files/Rosset_2024_Unevenly%20unequal%20responsiveness.pdf
LA  - eng
LK  - https://arodes.hes-so.ch/record/15445/files/Rosset_2024_Unevenly%20unequal%20responsiveness.pdf
N2  - Recent studies puzzle over why it is that democratically elected governments have not responded to rising inequality by engaging in more redistribution. While some scholars argue that low- and middle-income citizens have not responded to rising inequality in the way we would expect, others argue that policymakers are not responsive to the demands of these citizens. We argue that both solutions to the “lack-of-redistribution puzzle” leave something to be desired and that variation across policy domains sheds new light on the issues at stake in this debate. Based on an original 2019 survey replicating questions asked by the European Social Survey in 2008, we show that support for progressive income taxation and more egalitarian unemployment insurance has increased in most West European countries since 2008. Tax policy has moved in the same direction as public opinion, but unemployment policy has not. We conclude that public opinion should be conceived as a constraint on policymakers motivated by political-economy considerations rather than a driver of policy developments.
PB  - SAGE Publication
PP  - Thousand Oaks, CA
PY  - 2024-11
SN  - 10.1177/00323292241283293
T1  - Unevenly unequal responsiveness :public opinion and redistributive policy shifts in Western Europe since 2008
TI  - Unevenly unequal responsiveness :public opinion and redistributive policy shifts in Western Europe since 2008
UR  - https://arodes.hes-so.ch/record/15445/files/Rosset_2024_Unevenly%20unequal%20responsiveness.pdf
VL  - 2024
Y1  - 2024-11
ER  -