Discussion paper

DP18667 Origins of New Political Cleavages: Education, Incomes, and Values

This paper puts forward a model to explore the static and dynamic consequences of new policy cleavages which cut across the traditional left-to-right, class-based divide. We study the interplay between the political equilibrium, policy cleavages, and the incentives to invest in human capital — in the process bringing some important ideas from political sociology into political economics. Our formalized framework casts new light on debates about the policy consequences of economic, cultural and political shocks, many of which have been empirically explored in recent economics and politics research.

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Citation

Besley, T and T Persson (2023), ‘DP18667 Origins of New Political Cleavages: Education, Incomes, and Values‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 18667. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp18667