An Analytical Perspective on Participatory Inequality and Income Inequality

This paper offers an analytical perspective on income, income inequality, and participation, and it presents new empirical work that goes beyond existing research. The analytical perspective draws upon economics and political science to consider how income and income inequality might affect participation. The empirical research reveals the seemingly paradoxical result that from the 1970s through the 1990s, participatory inequality decreased for at least some forms of political participation as income inequality increased. The analytical perspective suggests various reasons why this might be so, and it provides avenues for future research.