A Comparative Study on Political Equality and...

A Comparative Study on Political Equality and Economic Equality

Author Name : Dr. Kulbhushan Sharma

In this paper, the author studied the validity of the propositions that the growth of political equality has reduced social inequality, and that political equality mediates much of the effect of the level of economic development on social equality. Social equality is defined empirically in terms of three variables: a measure of experience with social insurance programs; a measure of income inequality; and a social welfare index. The analysis of a cross-section of sixty western and third-world countries (1960) indicates that the effect of the level of economic development on each dependent variable is positive and curvilinear, but that the bivariate effects of political equality on the latter are quite spurious, once the level of economic development is taken into account. Political equality exerts no significant effects (additive or non-additive) on social equality.

Keywords: politics, equality, economic, social.