All Bad Things Do Not Go Together: A Comment on Echeverri-Gent

Abstract

John Echeverri-Gent's (2009) fine article in this symposium makes a compelling case for a greater focus on the study of inequality by political scientists. A topic we have too often neglected, its dynamics go to the core of our disciplinary concerns and we clearly should have more to offer to its understanding. APSA is to be commended for supporting the work of the Task Force on Difference, Inequality, and Developing Societies (2008), which Echeverri-Gent led, and which, in large part, informs his article in these pages. It should generate a renewed focus by political scientists on international inequality and on the role of domestic inequality in the development process.

Inequality, Institutions, and the Risks to Foreign Investment1

“…Relatedly, Ansell and Samuels (2010) demonstrate that such median voter‐based arguments fundamentally mischaracterize the dynamics of political competition between social groups. Inequality fares no better in alternative research agendas; van de Walle (2009) argues there is no evidence for a causal relationship between income inequality and political violence, while the literature linking inequality to economic growth finds both positive and negative effects (Persson and Tabellini 1994; Deininger and Squire 1998; Li and Zou 1998). 3…”