TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface ix Chapter 1. The New Gilded Age 1
Escalating Economic Inequality 6
Interpreting Inequality 13
Economic Inequality as a Po litical Issue 19
Inequality and American Democracy 23
Chapter 2. The Partisan Political Economy 29
Partisan Patterns of Income Growth 31
A Partisan Coincidence? 34
Partisan Differences in Macroeconomic Policy 42
Macroeconomic Per for mance and Income Growth 47
Partisan Policies and Post- Tax Income Growth 54
Democrats, Republicans, and the Rise of In equality 61
Chapter 3. Class Politics and Partisan Change 64
In Search of the Working Class 66
Has the White Working Class Abandoned the Democratic Party? 72
Have Working- Class Whites Become More Conservative? 78
Do "Moral Values" Trump Economics? 83
Are Religious Voters Distracted from Economic Issues? 90
Class Politics, Alive and Well 93
Chapter 4. Partisan Biases in Economic Accountability 98
Myopic Voters 99
The Political Timing of Income Growth 104
Class Biases in Economic Voting 110
The Wealthy Give Something Back: Partisan Biases in Campaign Spending 116
Political Consequences of Biased Accountability 120
Chapter 5. Do Americans Care about In equality? 127
Egalitarian Values 130
Rich and Poor 136
Perceptions of Inequality 143
Facts and Values in the Realm of In equality 148
Chapter 6. Homer Gets a Tax Cut 162
The Bush Tax Cuts 164
Public Support for the Tax Cuts 170
Unenlightened Self- Interest 176
The Impact of Political Information 181
Chump Change 186
Into the Sunset 193
Chapter 7. The Strange Appeal of Estate Tax Repeal 197
Public Support for Estate Tax Repeal 198
Is Public Support for Repeal a Product of Misinformation? 205
Did Interest Groups Manufacture Public Antipathy to the Estate Tax? 214
Elite Ideology and the Politics of Estate Tax Repeal 217
Chapter 8. The Eroding Minimum Wage 223
The Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage 227
Public Support for the Minimum Wage 229
The Politics of Inaction 232
Democrats, Unions, and the Eroding Minimum Wage 239
The Earned Income Tax Credit 246
Reversing the Tide 247
Chapter 9. Economic Inequality and Po litical Representation 252
Ideological Representation 254
Unequal Responsiveness 257
Unequal Responsiveness on Social Issues: The Case of Abortion 265
Partisan Differences in Repre sen ta tion 267
Why Are the Poor Unrepresented? 275
10. Unequal Democracy 283
Who Governs? 285
Partisan Politics and the "Have- Nots" 288
Political Obstacles to Economic Equality 294
The City of Utmost Necessity 298
Selected References 305
Index 317
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