The Politics of Place and the Limits of Redistribution

Regional differences in wealth strongly affect national politics. Most politicians represent the interests of territories, and political debate to distribute government resources is a competition to bring money back to their district. The more wealth differs across districts, the wider policy preferences for citizens and their representatives will diverge, heightening conflict in national political institutions and influencing policy outcomes. How this affects countries depends fundamentally on the structure of their political systems. Using a large dataset of developed and developing countries in all regions of the world from 1980-2010, this book documents the extent of within-country differences in wealth and how that influences elections, political parties, executives, and federalism, and results in divergent education and health policy.