Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age - Second Edition (Russell Sage Foundation Co-pub)

**Bartels’s acclaimed examination of how the American political system favors the wealthy—now fully revised and expanded** The first edition of __Unequal Democracy__ was an instant classic, shattering illusions about American democracy and spurring scholarly and popular interest in the political causes and consequences of escalating economic inequality. This revised, updated, and expanded second edition includes two new chapters on the political economy of the Obama era. One presents the Great Recession as a "stress test" of the American political system by analyzing the 2008 election and the impact of Barack Obama's "New New Deal" on the economic fortunes of the rich, middle class, and poor. The other assesses the politics of inequality in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2012 election, and the partisan gridlock of Obama’s second term. Larry Bartels offers a sobering account of the barriers to change posed by partisan ideologies and the political power of the wealthy. He also provides new analyses of tax policy, partisan differences in economic performance, the struggle to raise the minimum wage, and inequalities in congressional representation. President Obama identified inequality as "the defining challenge of our time." __Unequal Democracy__ is the definitive account of how and why our political system has failed to rise to that challenge. Now more than ever, this is a book every American needs to read. Contents Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition 1. The New Gilded Age Escalating Economic Inequality Interpreting Inequality Economic Inequality as a Political Issue Inequality and American Democracy 2. The Partisan Political Economy Partisan Patterns of Income Growth A Partisan Coincidence? Partisan Differences in Macroeconomic Policy Macroeconomic Performance and Income Growth Do Presidents Still Matter? Partisan Redistribution Democrats, Republicans, and the Rise of Inequality 3. Partisan Biases in Economic Accountability Myopic Voters The Electoral Timing of Income Growth Class Biases in Economic Voting The Wealthy Give Something Back: Partisan Biases in Campaign Spending The Political Consequences of Biased Accountability 4. Do Americans Care about Inequality? Egalitarian Values Rich and Poor Perceptions of Inequality Facts and Values in the Realm of Inequality 5. Homer Gets a Tax Cut The Bush Tax Cuts Public Support for the Tax Cuts Unenlightened Self-Interest The Impact of Political Information The Long Sunset 6. The Strange Appeal of Estate Tax Repeal Public Support for Estate Tax Repeal Is Public Support for Repeal a Product of Misinformation? Did Interest Groups Manufacture Public Antipathy to the Estate Tax? Elite Ideology and the Politics of Estate Tax Repeal 7. The Eroding Minimum Wage The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage Public Support for the Minimum Wage The Politics of Congressional Inaction Democrats, Unions, and the Eroding Minimum Wage Local Action The Earned Income Tax Credit 8. Economic Inequality and Political Representation Congressional Representation Unequal Responsiveness Partisan Differences in Responsiveness Systemic Responsiveness Plutocracy? Why the Poor Are Unrepresented 9. Stress Test: The Political Economy of the Great Recession The 2008 Election and “the New New Deal” Reaction and Gridlock The Political Impact of the Recession But Did It Work? Geithner’s World Not the New New Deal 10. The Defining Challenge of Our Time? A “National Conversation”? The Class War Gets Personal: Inequality as an Issue in the 2012 Campaign Obama and Inequality The Political Challenge 11. Unequal Democracy Who Governs? Partisan Politics and the “Have-nots” Political Obstacles to Economic Equality The City of Utmost Necessity Postscript References Index An acclaimed examination of how the American political system favors the wealthy—now fully revised and expanded The first edition of Unequal Democracy was an instant classic, shattering illusions about American democracy and spurring scholarly and popular interest in the political causes and consequences of escalating economic inequality. This revised, updated, and expanded second edition includes two new chapters on the political economy of the Obama era. One presents the Great Recession as a "stress test" of the American political system by analyzing the 2008 election and the impact of Barack Obama's "New New Deal" on the economic fortunes of the rich, middle class, and poor. The other assesses the politics of inequality in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2012 election, and the partisan gridlock of Obama's second term. Larry Bartels offers a sobering account of the barriers to change posed by partisan ideologies and the political power of the wealthy. He also provides new analyses of tax policy, partisan differences in economic performance, the struggle to raise the minimum wage, and inequalities in congressional representation. President Obama identified inequality as "the defining challenge of our time." Unequal Democracy is the definitive account of how and why our political system has failed to rise to that challenge. Now more than ever, this is a book every American needs to read. This book explores the political causes and consequences of escalating economic inequality. This edition includes chapters on the political economy of the Obama era. One presents the Great Recession as a "stress test" of the American political system by analyzing the 2008 election and the impact of Barack Obama's "New New Deal" on the economic fortunes of the rich, middle class, and poor. The other assesses the politics of inequality in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the 2012 election, and the partisan gridlock of Obama's second term. The author offers an account of the barriers to change posed by partisan ideologies and the political power of the wealthy. He also provides new analyses of tax policy, partisan differences in economic performance, the struggle to raise the minimum wage, and inequalities in congressional representation. President Obama identified inequality as "the defining challenge of our time." This book investigates how and why our political system has failed to rise to that challenge