Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/128011 
Year of Publication: 
2002
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 02.06
Publisher: 
Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee, Gerzensee
Abstract: 
We present a model of growth and distributional conflict that implies a non-monotonic relationship between average wealth and the likelihood of radical redistribution: while the net benefits of redistribution for members of the poor class are small at low stages of development, a shift towards egalitarianism considerably improves agents' income prospects once an intermediate level of per-capita wealth is reached. As the economy grows further, the incentive to challenge the existing social order decreases again and eventually vanishes. This nonmonotonicity captures the observation that historical shifts to radically redistributive policies frequently took place after extended periods of economic growth.
Subjects: 
Political economy
inequality
borrowing constraints
redistribution
revolution
Kuznets curve
JEL: 
P16
O11
D31
D74
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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