IDEOLOGY, TACTICS, AND EFFICIENCY IN REDISTRIBUTIVE POLITICS

We model the electoral politics of redistribution when voters and part ies care about inequality in addition to their private concerns for co nsumption and votes, respectively. Ideological concerns about income r edistribution lead each party to adopt a general proportional income t ax, adjusted to appeal to the ideological leanings of high ''clout'' g roups, with disproportionately many ''swing'' voters, which the partie s also ply with pork-barrel projects. Our results relate to ''Director 's Law,'' which says that redistributive politics favors middle classe s at the expense of both rich and poor.