Rising Inequalities In Wealth

Conventional views about whether Americans are troubled by rising inequalities in wealth and income generally begin with the assumption that if Americans were concerned, they would demand more redistribution. If people are self-interested, rational actors, this line of reasoning goes, then as the rich became richer, then everyone except the rich would have a greater incentive to support redistribution. The basic fact that there are many more non-rich people than rich would lead one to believe that, in a democracy, the masses would vote their self-interest and demand more redistribution. The median voter theorem predicts that median-income voters, who the theory posits are decisive in electoral judgments, will prefer greater redistribution as