Income Inequality and Redistributive Policies: from the Median Voter Theorem to preferences for redistribution using Twitter

Abstract

This work examines the relationship between income inequality and redistributive policies. It reviews the previous theoretical literature, introducing the widely adopted framework of the Median Voter Theorem and its implications in terms of redistribution. Then, it summarizes the most important empirical works concerning this topic. Next, following previous literature, it implements an econometric analysis to investigate more accurately the theoretical relationship between income inequality and redistribution. Finally, it exploits Twitter data on different countries to analyze the population sentiment towards the level of redistribution actually implemented by governments.