The Political Representation of Economic Interests

Abstract

ABSTRACTRising inequality has caused concerns that democratic governments are no longer responding to majority demands, an argument the authors label thesubversion of democracy model(sdm). Thesdmcomes in two forms: one uses public opinion data to show that policies are strongly biased toward the preferences of the rich; the other uses macrolevel data to show that governments aren’t responding to rising inequality. This article critically reassesses thesdm, points to potential biases, and proposes solutions that suggest a different interpretation of the data, which the authors label therepresentative democracy model(rdm). After testing thesdmagainst therdmon public opinion data and on a new data set on fiscal policy, they find that middle-class power has remained remarkably strong over time, even as inequality has risen. The authors conclude that the rich have little influence on redistributive policies, and that the democratic state is apparently not increasingly constrained by global capital.