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DOI 10.1007/s00712-007-0295-xMcCarty, N., Poole, K. T., and Rosenthal, H.: Polarized America. The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. XII, 240 pp. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, London 2006. Hardcover 22.95.
This book on the interplay of political and economic polarization in the modern United States is fascinating, wide-ranging and on most points persuasive. It brings together a remarkable body of empirical research, covering inter alia these topics:
The measurement of political polarization, specically the partisan character of positions taken by Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress and its evolution over more than a century, dating back almost to the origins of the Republican Party.
The relationship between rising income inequality and electoral choices and outcomes, and especially party-income stratication including the well-known paradox that richer voters vote Republican while richer states tend to vote Democratic.
The surprising role of immigration, particularly in nullifying the increased incentive to redistribute income that one might otherwise have expected to result from rising ex ante inequality in the income distribution.
The role of political action committees (PACs) and individual contributors in mitigating or abetting the increased polarization of elected representatives.
The effect of polarization on public policy outcomes.
The greatest strength of this work lies in its use of new and revealing data. For example, the authors plot Federal Elections Commission data on campaign contributions by PACs and individuals, measuring both the ideological position of the contributor and diversity among the candidates contributed to. They nd that neither individuals nor PACs contributing
216 Book Reviews
under the hard-money constraints of campaign nance law...