GV3L6 Half Unit
The Political Economy of Inequality
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Valentino Larcinese
Availability
This course is available on the BA in Social Anthropology, BSc in History and Politics, BSc in International Social and Public Policy with Politics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, BSc in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (with a Year Abroad), BSc in Politics, BSc in Politics and Economics, BSc in Politics and International Relations, BSc in Politics and Philosophy and BSc in Social Anthropology. This course is not available as an outside option to students on other programmes. This course is not available to General Course students.
This course is capped. Places will be assigned on a first come first served basis
Requisites
Additional requisites:
No particular prerequisites except familiarity with basic statistical concepts (at the level of ST108 or equivalent) and willingness to engage with quantitative research material.
Course content
The objective of this course is to provide an overview of the main theories, and related empirical evidence, regarding the determinants and consequences of the distribution of income and wealth. We will place a particular emphasis on the role played by political and institutional factors and the way inequality in material wealth shapes political influence, hence steering policy and institutions towards the creation and preservation of inequality. A central theme of the material covered in this course is the connection between economic and political inequality. We will draw on literature from political science, economic history and economics. We will cover the following topics:
- Inequality: key concepts and measurement
- Wealth and income inequality: evolution over time and across countries
- Explanations of economic inequality: XIX and XX century thinkers
- Inequality in the XXI century: globalization and technological change
- The political economy of redistribution
- Taxation, redistribution and the growth of the public sector
- Political institutions and welfare systems
- Political influence and political inequality: campaign finance
- Political influence and political inequality: mass media
- Inequality and populism
Teaching
15 hours of lectures and 13.5 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
Formative assessment
Presentation
Essay
Students will be expected to produce 1 essay and 1 presentation in the AT.
Indicative reading
Branko Milanovic: Visions of Inequality, Harvard University Press 2023
Thomas Piketty: Capital in the 21st Century, harvard University Press 2014
Roemer, J.E. et al., 2009. The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality. 1st ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Atkinson, Anthony B, and François Bourguignon, 2000. Handbook of Income Distribution. Vol. 1, Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology.
Angus Deaton: The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, Princeton University Press 2015
Carles Boix, Political Order and Inequality, Cambridge University Press 2015
Assessment
Presentation (25%)
Essay (75%, 4000 words) in Winter Term Week 1
Key facts
Department: Government
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 6
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 17
Average class size 2024/25: 17
Capped 2024/25: Yes(10)Course selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills