Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Impact of
the Geography of Inequality
on the Decentralization
of Redistribution
0
Centrifugal
Centripetal
System of Representation
FIGURE 8.1. Economic Geography
and
Interpersonal Redistribution:
Political
Contingencies
units across different political unions. This brings us back to political repre-
sentation, to the continuum between centrifugal and centripetal representation
structures.
Figure 8.1
restates hypotheses 2a and 2b graphically.
Ceteris paribus
,an
uneven geography of inequality will be associated with a more decentralized
system of interpersonal redistribution
under conditions of centrifugal political
representation
. That is, when the balance of power privileges the political
position of the constituent members of the union. In turn, the impact of the
geography of inequality on the levels of decentralization of redistribution is
muted under conditions of centripetal representation, that is, when the balance
of power privileges the political position of the national actors, including the
central government.
At the extreme, in highly centripetal political unions, the relationship
reverses: a more uneven economic geography is associated with a more central-
ized system of interpersonal redistribution. The in-depth comparison between
the experiences of the European Union, the United States in the 1930s, Ger-
many during Reunification, and Spain provides strong evidence in support of
this contention. To further evaluate this theoretical claim though, I proceed to
estimate the following set of empirical relationships:
∧
ineq
ir
it
∧
ineq
ir
it
f
(
IPR
)
=
α
+
+
bp
it
+
(
∗
bp
it
)
+
θ
it
+
ε
(8.2)
where
IPR
represents the level of decentralization of interpersonal redistribu-
tion in a particular country at a particular point in time,
bp
it
defines the balance
of power between the center and the units, and
θ
it
depicts a set of controls, to
be detailed below, that are meant to capture alternative explanations for the
decentralization of fiscal policy.
