{"product_id":"unequal-democracy-9780691172842","title":"Unequal Democracy","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the 2009 Gladys M. Kammerer Award, American Political Science Association Winner of the 2009 Leon D. Epstein Outstanding Book Award, Political Organizations and Parties Section of the American Political Science Association \"[I recommend] Larry M. Bartels's Unequal Democracy. Especially at this time every thoughtful American needs to learn as much as possible about the relationship of politics to economics.\"--Bill Clinton, Daily Beast \"Obama can connect with voters on the economy by using history as a guideline. He should start by reading Unequal Democracy, by Princeton academic Larry Bartels. The non-partisan and non-political Bartels points out devastatingly after an exhaustive study of Democratic and Republican presidents that the Democrats built a better economy and a more just society.\"--James Carville, CNN \"Many Americans know that there are characteristic policy differences between the [Republican and Democratic] parties. But few are aware of two important facts about the post-World War II era, both of which are brilliantly delineated in a new book, Unequal Democracy, by Larry M. Bartels, a professor of political science at Princeton. Understanding them might help voters see what could be at stake, economically speaking, in November.\"--Alan Blinder, New York Times \"Bartels is the political scientist of the moment. Along with Obama, Bill Clinton also read and recommends Unequal Democracy. [M]ost people on the street could have told Bartels that the working poor fare better under Democrats ... but the importance of these and some other findings in the book ... is that they use scholarly methods to provide political explanations for economic problems.\"--Michael Tomasky, New York Review of Books \"A provocative new book by Princeton professor Larry M. Bartels, one of the country's leading political scientists.\"--Dan Balz, Washington Post \"A short review cannot convey the rich variety of arguments and data Bartels deploys in making his case. Some of his analysis focuses on broadly characterized partisan differences, some on high profile examples such as the politics of the minimum wage and the estate tax. He will have done a considerable service if the next time we start thinking about economics we also think about politics. Bartels shows that social issues do not create as strong a headwind against class-based voting as is often assumed and that lower income voters do tend to vote Democratic while upper-income voters do tend to vote Republican. Unequal Democracy offers an important case for why this might be.\"--Robert Grafstein, Science \"[A] provocative new book by Princeton professor Larry M. Bartels, one of the country's leading political scientists. One of Bartels's most intriguing conclusions is that the political timing of economic growth has influenced voters. Republican presidents...have often generated significant economic growth rates in presidential election years, while Democratic presidents have not.\"--Dan Balz, Washington Post \"[E]xtraordinarily insightful.\"--Bob Braun, Newark Star-Ledger \"Unequal Democracy makes the choice voters face clear: Democratic policies spread the wealth and Republican policies protect the wealthy.\"--Julian E. Zelizer, The Huffington Post \"[Bartels] is correct in drawing attention to the tension between the egalitarian values that Americans hold and their apparent toleration for growing economic inequality. And at every step of the argument, he defines and analyzes interesting and relevant evidence.\"--Richard R. John, Forum \"Prodigiously researched and cogently argued, Bartels's timely work should interest academics and lay readers alike.\"--Blake A. Ellis, Journal of Southern History \"The book is exemplary throughout in its transparency with regard to the data and Bartels's analytic strategy for using them, in its attention to alternative explanations for a given outcome, and in its balance between not over-reaching and asserting a clear, controversial, and important thesis... Full of evidence, insights, and surprises... The book is never less than provocative and is often revelatory.\"--Jennifer Hochschild, Perspectives on Politics \"For a book targeted at both academic and nonacademic audiences, Bartels strikes a nice balance between exhaustive empirical rigor and accessibility... Bartels gives us a wide-ranging framework for thinking about the ways that citizens interact with the political system, and in so doing maps an agenda for the next generation of research on American democracy in action.\"--Nicholas J. G. Winter, Public Opinion Quarterly \"Larry Bartels's Unequal Democracy is a major landmark in political scientists' efforts to grapple with inequality... Bartels has done so much, and has done it so well, that anyone who quibbles with his interpretations or suggests that he has left important questions unanswered is likely to seem ungenerous, even churlish... Unequal Democracy should be taken as a major contribution and as a touchstone for further research.\"--Benjamin I. Page, Perspectives on Politics Praise for the first edition: \"[I recommend] Larry M. Bartels's Unequal Democracy. Especially at this time every thoughtful American needs to learn as much as possible about the relationship of politics to economics.\"--Bill Clinton, Daily Beast Praise for the first edition: \"The non-partisan and non-political Bartels points out devastatingly after an exhaustive study of Democratic and Republican presidents that the Democrats built a better economy and a more just society.\"--James Carville, CNN Praise for the first edition: \"Provocative.\"--Dan Balz, Washington Post Praise for the first edition: \"Unequal Democracy is the sort of book to which every political scientist should aspire... Bartels's perplexing and often unexpected discoveries should help refocus the gathering public debate about inequality and what to do about it.\"--Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface to the Second Edition xi  Preface to the First Edition xv  1 The New Gilded Age 1  Escalating Economic Inequality 7  Interpreting Inequality 16  Economic Inequality as a Political Issue 23  Inequality and American Democracy 28  2 The Partisan Political Economy 33  Partisan Patterns of Income Growth 35  A Partisan Coincidence? 38  Partisan Differences in Macroeconomic Policy 48  Macroeconomic Performance and Income Growth 52  Do Presidents Still Matter? 57  Partisan Redistribution 62  Democrats, Republicans, and the Rise of Inequality 69  3 Partisan Biases in Economic Accountability 74  Myopic Voters 76  The Electoral Timing of Income Growth 82  Class Biases in Economic Voting 87  The Wealthy Give Something Back: Partisan Biases in Campaign Spending 93  The Political Consequences of Biased Accountability 98  4 Do Americans Care about Inequality? 105  Egalitarian Values 108  Rich and Poor 113  Perceptions of Inequality 118  Facts and Values in the Realm of Inequality 124  5 Homer Gets a Tax Cut 136  The Bush Tax Cuts 138  Public Support for the Tax Cuts 144  Unenlightened Self-Interest 150  The Impact of Political Information 155  The Long Sunset 163  6 The Strange Appeal of Estate Tax Repeal 170  Public Support for Estate Tax Repeal 173  Is Public Support for Repeal a Product of Misinformation? 181  Did Interest Groups Manufacture Public Antipathy to the Estate Tax? 189  Elite Ideology and the Politics of Estate Tax Repeal 193  7 The Eroding Minimum Wage 198  The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage 202  Public Support for the Minimum Wage 205  The Politics of Congressional Inaction 209  Democrats, Unions, and the Eroding Minimum Wage 217  Local Action 223  The Earned Income Tax Credit 228  8 Economic Inequality and Political Representation 233  Congressional Representation 235  Unequal Responsiveness 239  Partisan Differences in Responsiveness 248  Systemic Responsiveness 249  Plutocracy? 254  Why the Poor Are Unrepresented 257  9 Stress Test: The Political Economy of the Great Recession 269  The 2008 Election and \"the New New Deal\" 274  Reaction and Gridlock 281  The Political Impact of the Recession 286  But Did It Work? 295  Geithner's World 301  Not the New New Deal 305  10 The Defining Challenge of Our Time? 309  A \"National Conversation\"? 311  The Class War Gets Personal: Inequality as an Issue in the 2012 Campaign 315  Obama and Inequality 329  The Political Challenge 334  11 Unequal Democracy 342  Who Governs? 344  Partisan Politics and the \"Have-nots\" 347  Political Obstacles to Economic Equality 352  The City of Utmost Necessity 358  Postscript 365  References 367  Index 385","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49403836760407,"sku":"9780691172842","price":26.6,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780691172842.jpg?v=1730484678","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/unequal-democracy-9780691172842","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}