Empirics of the median voter : democracy, redistribution and the role of the middle class

The present paper improves the empirical investigation on the effectiveness of the median voter theorem. Using high quality data, it is possible to directly observe net cash transfers for every individual and to investigate the effects of taxes and transfers on different classes. Results suggest to reject - or at least question - the hypothesis that the middle class plays a special role in the policy determination. Not only its gains from redistribution are negligible, but the link between income and redistribution is lower than for any other class of income. Moreover, the strength of the median voter seems to reduce over time. Finally, more asymmetric societies decrease the amount of redistribution targeted to the middle class, a result in strong contrast to the median voter theorem, since - according to it - the middle class should have incentives to expropriate richest individual

Strategic compromise, policy bundling and interest group power: Theory and evidence on education policy

Policy reforms are often multifaceted. In the rent-seeking literature policies are usually taken as one-dimensional. This paper models policy formation using a political contest with endogenous policy proposals containing two dimensions, e.g. access and quality of education. The two dimensions provide an opportunity to trade off one policy over another to make the lobbying opposition less aggressive. In a first stage, the government proposes a reform over the two policies, and in a second stage engages in a contest with an interest group over the enactment of the proposed reform. As a result, the government makes a compromise, under-proposing in the policy the interest group opposes and over-proposing in the policy the interest group desires. Effectively, there will be strategic bundling of desired policies with undesired ones in an attempt to increase enactment probability and overall utility. We study this prediction empirically using a newly complied dataset on education legislation in the states of California, Illinois and Texas. Results suggest that stronger opposition is associated with less quality reforms. Moreover, as predicted by the model, when bundling access reforms together with quality, the negative effect is counteracted

Education, inequality and electoral participation

In comparative terms, Italian electoral turnout has been very high since 1946. However, during the five elections from 1994 to 2008,turnout dropped more steeply than it did over the previous 12 elections from 1946 to 1992.The difference between maximum turnout in the early 1950s and the 2008 election was about 12%,and mostof this decline (8%) occurred in the period 1992-2008.This paper finds robust evidence that individual and contextual social inequalities have been key factors i therecent fall of turnout.In particular our results clearly suggest that contextual social inequality lowers the turnout of less-educated voters and leaves it unafectedamong high-educated ones. The recent decline in turnout may therefore be indicative of an important shift towards more unequal political participation. These findings are consistent with data showing that the post-1994 parties performed very poorly as mobilisation agencies compared with the old parties.Indeed, according to Franklin (2004), turnout trends can be effectively explained by changes in institutional rules and by the degree of electoral competitiveness.This paper suggests that, in order to explain turnout trends, the interactive effects of social and individual inequality should also be considered

Spreading the word : a social-psychological exploration of word-of-mouth traveller information in the digital age

The use of ‘formal’ travel information pertaining to costs, routes, journey times, or real-time transport disruptions, and its role in travel behaviour (for example, choice of mode, route or departure time) has been widely studied, but little is known about the part played by 'informal' information, shared through word-of-mouth amongst friends, family, colleagues and other social networks, in relation to everyday travel. Furthermore, considerable investment has been made over recent decades in the development of sophisticated 'advanced traveller information systems', delivering formal, top-down information through media such as online journey planners, but less attention has been paid to parallel developments in the diffusion of bottom-up, user-generated information through 'electronic word-of-mouth' on the internet (acknowledged in the field of marketing as a growing source of influence on consumer behaviour). This thesis examines the role of word-of-mouth information diffusion within everyday travel behaviour and its emerging applications in the field of online traveller information, within a framework of social-psychological theories of behaviour and decision theory. The exploration of social-psychological factors underlying the social transfer of traveller information led to an expansion of existing theory, whilst the research also generated practical recommendations for the wider incorporation of ‘social design features’ into certain forms of traveller information system. The research was undertaken in two empirical phases, both employing a qualitative methodology. In Phase 1 (exploratory), interviews and focus groups were used to: generate an account of the use of word-of-mouth travel information; explore participants‟ perceptions of the influence of this form of information on their own and others' travel behaviour; and identify social-psychological mechanisms underlying the influence process. 'Local knowledge' obtained through word-of-mouth was found to be highly valued, and was deemed trustworthy primarily because it was based on the informant's direct experience (an instrumental-reasoned explanation). However, perceived trustworthiness could be improved by social-psychological factors such as social proximity, group-identification and accepted norms of behaviour. Word-of-mouth was found to play a complementary role to formal information in the decision process, and was reported to have had a direct influence on trip details (e.g. route or departure time), but was less likely to affect modal choice. More general interactions about travel (for example, appraising the experience of using a particular transport mode in general conversation), whilst not necessarily perceived as travel information per se, appeared to be influencing beliefs and attitudes, and shaping the psychological context in which travel choices might later be made. Phase 2 (applications) was a qualitative case-study of an innovative, web-based traveller information system, entitled Cycology, through which 23 participants shared cycle routes and other information with one another over a period of six weeks. This allowed both a validation of the earlier findings within an applied context, and an exploration of some findings in greater depth - in particular, the ways in which social norms and social identities around travel are established or reinforced in peer-groups through word-of-mouth interactions, and help to explain interpersonal influences on travel behaviour. Interactions on the website were found to: influence participants‟ behaviour in the form of using cycle routes suggested by others; strengthen pro-cycling attitudes; and enhance the experience of the cycle commute. A key finding was the role which Cycology played in building a sense of ‘community’ (group identification), linked to high levels of trust and pro-social behaviour amongst group members, which both reinforced positive views of cycling as a commuter mode, and increased people‟s propensity to act on information from others within the group. Together with the Phase 1 findings, this led to the proposed incorporation of additional 'social factors' into established models of information use. Practical recommendations from the research concerned ways in which developments in social media might be combined more widely with online, map-based traveller information, particularly route-planning tools, with the potential to enhance the perceived reliability (and influence) of such systems, and, consequently, their effectiveness as a transport policy tool.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

La diseguaglianza dei redditi in Italia

The evolution of income inequality in Italy is different from most of other countries: the Gini coefficient of total equivalised income declined gradually until the late 1980s, grew suddenly during the 1991-1992 recession and remained approximately stable thereafter. In this paper we attempt to explain this trend reversal. We analyse the contribution of the changing distribution of individual incomes by main factor sources (labour income, self employment income, pensions) and by region of origin (North, Centre, South). We find that pension income and labour income had opposite effects on inequality: changes in the distribution of pension income had an equalising effect while changes in the distribution of labour income and self employment income tended to increase overall income inequality

“La disuguaglianza dei redditi in Italia”

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