How inequality erodes the ballot box
In a landmark analysis using data from the V-Dem Institute, scholars Eli Rau and Susan Stokes studied democratic backsliding in dozens of countries since the turn of the 21st century. Their conclusion was that income inequality is a “stunningly robust” predictor of democratic erosion.
In an unequal society, the stakes of politics become existential. Nobel laureates Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that when wealth is concentrated at the top, elites become willing to back undemocratic candidates to protect their assets from redistribution. Conversely, ordinary citizens, feeling that the system is rigged, become willing to overturn it entirely. This can create a vacuum filled by leaders who promise to dismantle the state rather than reform it, using distrust to concentrate power and shield themselves from accountability.
An age of instability
Two hundred and fifty years after our nation’s founding, we are entering a period of instability driven by technological dislocation. The promise that deregulation and privatization would lift all boats has proven true only for those with the biggest yachts. Today, the future of work looks increasingly like a digital panopticon. For instance, in many warehouses, workers are tracked by systems that monitor “Time Off Task” to the second. A report by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois Chicago has found that these platforms can contribute to serious injury rates at leading warehouse employers that are more than twice that of competitors.