Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T05:01:15.189Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Economic Roots of External Efficacy: Assessing the Relationship between External Political Efficacy and Income Inequality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2016

Mikel Norris
Mikel Norris*
Affiliation:
Coastal Carolina University
*
Department of Politics and Geography, Coastal Carolina University, PO Box 261954, Conway SC 29528-6054, Email: mnorris1@coastal.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

External political efficacy, the belief that government is responsive to the demands of its citizens, has been declining in the United States since the 1960s. However, scholars do not yet fully understand the reasons for its decline. Nor have they found suitable explanations for why it fluctuates within the electorate. Drawing on the growing literature on the effects of income inequality on public policy, I posit that increasing income inequality factors into the decline of external political efficacy. Using multilevel regression models accounting for individual and contextual factors, I find increasing state-level income inequality has a substantial negative effect on external political efficacy. It is greater than most state and national-level economic measures or individual-level variables on external political efficacy. These results have important implications both for research on income inequality and political participation and also for research on income inequality and distributional public policy.

Résumé

Aux États-Unis, l'efficacité politique extérieure—la conviction que le gouvernement répond aux demandes de ses citoyens—est en constant déclin depuis les années soixante. Néanmoins, les chercheurs ne comprennent pas complètement les raisons de ce déclin. Ils n'ont pas trouvé non plus d'explications satisfaisantes à ces fluctuations parmi les électeurs. En faisant appel au volume croissant de la littérature au sujet des effets de l'inégalité de revenus sur la politique publique, je pose comme principe que l'augmentation de l'inégalité des revenus contribue au déclin de l'efficacité politique extérieure. En utilisant les modèles de régression à plusieurs niveaux pour les facteurs individuels autant que contextuels, je trouve que l'augmentation de l'inégalité des revenus au niveau des États a un effet négatif fondamental sur l'efficacité politique extérieure. Cet effet a un impact sur l’efficacité politique extérieure plus important que celui de la plupart des mesures économiques au niveau national ou étatique, ou que celui des variables au niveau individuel. Ces résultats ont des implications importantes sur la recherche sur l'inégalité des revenus et la participation politique, ainsi que sur la recherche sur l'inégalité des revenus et la politique publique de distribution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 791 - 813
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramson, Paul R. and Aldrich, John H.. 1982. “The Decline of Electoral Participation in America.” American Political Science Review 76: 502–21.Google Scholar
Achen, Christopher and Shively, William. 2003. Cross-Level Inference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Mary R. 2010. “Community Psychology, Political Efficacy, and Trust.” Political Psychology 31: 59–84.Google Scholar
APSA Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy. 2006. “American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality.” Perspectives on Politics 2: 651–66.Google Scholar
Balch, George I. 1974. “Multiple Indicators in Survey Research: The Concept ‘Sense of Political Efficacy’.” Political Methodology 1: 1–43.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2000. “Partisanship and Voting Behavior, 1952–1996.” American Journal of Political Science 44: 35–50.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 2008. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of a New Gilded Age. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Benabou, Roland. 2000. “Unequal Societies: Income Distribution and the Social Contract.” American Economic Review 90: 96–129.Google Scholar
Bennett, Stephen Earl. 2006. “Comment on ‘American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality’.” PS: Political Science and Politics 39: 51–4.Google Scholar
Bowler, Shaun and Donovan, Todd. 2002. “Democracy, Institutions, and Attitudes about Citizen Influence on Government.” British Journal of Political Science 32: 371–90.Google Scholar
Brady, David and Volden, Craig. 1998. Revolving Gridlock: Politics and Policy from Carter to Clinton. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, Adam. 2012. “A Time-Series Analysis of External Efficacy.” Public Opinion Quarterly 76: 117–30.Google Scholar
Chamberlain, Adam. 2013. “The (Dis)connection Between Political Culture and External Efficacy.” American Politics Research 41: 761–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, Stephen C. 1980. “The Mobilization of Political Discontent.” Political Behavior 2: 189–209.Google Scholar
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , 558 U.S. 310, 130 S.Ct. 876.Google Scholar
Craig, Stephen C., Niemi, Richard G. and Silver, Glenn E.. 1990. “Political Efficacy and Trust: A Report on the NES Pilot Study Items.” Political Behavior 12: 289–314.Google Scholar
Ellis, Christopher and Faricy, Christopher. 2011. “Social Policy and Public Opinion: How the Ideological Direction of Spending Influences Public Mood.” Journal of Politics 73: 1095–1110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, Peter K., Kelly, Nathan J., Morgan, Jana, Volscho, Thomas, and Witko, Christopher. 2014. “Conditional Status Quo Bias and Top Income Shares: How U.S. Political Institutions Have Benefitted the Rich.” Journal of Politics 76: 289–303.Google Scholar
Finkel, Stephen E. 1985. “Reciprocal Effects of Participation and Political Efficacy: A Panel Analysis.” American Journal of Political Science 29: 891–913.Google Scholar
Garand, James C. 2010. “Income Inequality, Party Polarization, and Roll-Call Voting in the U.S. Senate.” Journal of Politics 72: 1109–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2005. “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness.” Public Opinion Quarterly. 69: 778–96.Google Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2009. “Preference Gaps and Inequality in Representation.” PS: Political Science and Politics 42: 335–41.Google Scholar
Gilens, Martin. 2012. Affluence and Influence: Economic Inequality and Political Power in America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gilens, Martin and Page, Benjamin I.. 2014. “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics 12: 564–81.Google Scholar
Grant, J. Tobin; and Rudolph, Thomas J.. 2003. “Value Conflict, Group Affect, and the Issue of Campaign Finance.” American Journal of Political Science 47: 453–69.Google Scholar
Griffin, John D. and Newman, Brian. 2012. “Voting Power, Policy Representation, and Disparities in Voting's Rewards.” Journal of Politics 75: 52–64.Google Scholar
Hacker, Jacob S. and Pierson, Paul. 2010. Winner-Take-All Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Hetherington, Marc J. 1998. “The Political Relevance of Political Trust.” American Political Science Review 92: 791–808.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J. 2005. “Political Choice, Public Policy, and Distributional Outcomes.” American Journal of Political Science 49: 865–80.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J. 2009. The Politics of Income Inequality in the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J. and Enns, Peter K.. 2010. “Inequality and the Dynamics of Public Opinion: The Self-Reinforcing Link between Inequality and Mass Preferences.” American Journal of Political Science 54: 855–70.Google Scholar
Kelly, Nathan J. and Witko, Christopher. 2012. “Federalism and American Inequality.” Journal of Politics 74: 414–26.Google Scholar
Killian, Mitchell, Schoen, Ryan and Dusso, Aaron. 2008. “Keeping up with the Joneses: The Interplay of Personal and Collective Evaluations in Voter Turnout.” Political Behavior 30: 323–40.Google Scholar
King, Gary, Tomz, Michael and Wittenberg, Jason. 2000. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” American Journal of Political Science. 44: 347–61.Google Scholar
Knack, Stephen. 2002. “Social Capital and the Quality of Government: Evidence from the States.” American Journal of Political Science 46: 772–85.Google Scholar
Koch, Jeffrey R. 1993. “Assessments of Group Influence, Subjective Political Competence, and Interest Group Membership.” Political Behavior 15: 309–25.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1998. Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Lewis-Beck, Michael S. and Stegmaier, Mary. 2000. “Economic Determinants of Electoral Outcomes.” Annual Review of Political Science 3: 183–220.Google Scholar
Mangum, Maurice. 2003. “Psychological Involvement and Black Voter Turnout.” Political Research Quarterly 56: 41–48.Google Scholar
McCall, Leslie and Kenworthy, Lane. 2009. “Americans’ Social Policy Preferences in the Era of Rising Inequality.” Perspectives on Politics 7: 459–84.Google Scholar
McCarty, Nolan, Poole, Keith T. and Rosenthal, Howard. 2006. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Michelson, Melissa R. 2000. “Political Efficacy and Electoral Participation of Chicago Latinos.” Social Science Quarterly 81: 136–50.Google Scholar
Newman, Benjamin J., Johnston, Christopher D. and Lown, Patrick L.. 2015. “False Consciousness or Class Awareness? Local Income Inequality, Personal Economic Position, and Belief in American Meritocracy.” American Journal of Political Science 59: 326–40.Google Scholar
Niemi, Richard G., Craig, Stephen C., and Mattei, Franco. 1991. “Measuring Internal Political Efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study.” American Political Science Review 85: 1407–13.Google Scholar
Panning, William H. 1983. “Inequality, Social Comparison, and Relative Deprivation.” American Political Science Review 77: 323–29.Google Scholar
Platt, Matthew B. 2008. “Participation for What? A Policy-Motivated Approach to Political Activism.” Political Behavior 30: 391–413.Google Scholar
Pollock, Philip H. III. 1983. “The Participatory Consequences of Internal and External Political Efficacy: A Research Note.” The Western Political Quarterly 36: 400–09.Google Scholar
Primo, David M., Binder, Sara A. and Maltzman, Forrest. 2008. “Who Consents? Competing Pivots in Federal Judicial Selection.” American Journal of Political Science 52: 471–89.Google Scholar
Raman, Rema and Hedeker, Donald. 2005. “A Mix-Effects Regression Model for Three-Level Ordinal Response Data.” Statistics in Medicine 24: 3331–45.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E.E. 1960. The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Schur, Lisa A. and Kruse, Douglas L.. 2000. “What Determines Voter Turnout? Lessons from Citizens with Disabilities.” Social Science Quarterly 81: 571–87.Google Scholar
Solt, Frederick. 2010. “Does Economic Inequality Depress Electoral Participation? Testing the Schattschneider Hypothesis.” Political Behavior 32: 285–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N. and Wlezien, Christopher. 2008. “On the Limits of Inequality in Representation.” PS: Political Science and Politics. 41: 319–27.Google Scholar
Steenbergen, Marco R. and Jones, Bradford S.. 2002. “Modeling Multilevel Data Structures.” American Journal of Political Science 46: 218–37.Google Scholar
Teixeira, Ruy A. 1987. Why Americans Don't Vote: Turnout Decline in the United States, 1960–1984. Westport: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Timpone, Richard J. 1998. “Structure, Behavior, and Voter Turnout in the United States.” American Political Science Review 92: 145–58.Google Scholar
Tolbert, Caroline J., Bowen, Daniel C. and Donovan, Todd. 2009. “Initiative Campaigns: Direct Democracy and Voter Mobilization.” American Politics Research 37: 155–92.Google Scholar
Tversky, Amos and Kahneman, Daniel. 1991. “Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 106: 1039–61.Google Scholar
Valentino, Nicholas A. Gregorowicz, Krysha, and Groenendyk, Eric W.. 2009. “Efficacy, Emotions and the Habit of Participation.” Political Behavior 31: 307–30.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Norris supplementary material S1

Online Appendix

Download Norris supplementary material S1(File)
File 47.6 KB