The Paradox of Redistribution in Time
by Xabier García Fuente (Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona)
Welfare states reduce inequality through taxes and transfers, but countries differ greatly in how they carry out this function, both in their policies and outcomes. How can we explain this variance? Using all LIS datasets, García Fuente provides several insights into cross-national differences in the world regions, while also supplying various indicators to measure how pro-poor or pro-rich social benefits are. The article elaborates further on the “paradox of redistribution” first identified by Korpi and Palme (1998).
Full article is available here.