Lupu and Pontusson (2011) argue that the structure of income inequality, rather than its level, can explain differences in fiscal redistribution across modern welfare states. Contrary to the assertion that there is robust evidence in support of this proposition, the present paper challenges the argument that the distribu-tional allegiances between social groups are a function of relative income differentials. It makes three central claims: (a) skew in the earnings distribution, the key explanatory variable in the empirical tests of the original paper, is a result of labor market institutions and hence endogenous to the welfare state; (b) relative earnings differentials are not a valid proxy measure for the structure of income inequality, the concept of theoretical interest; and (c) there is no indication that skew in the distribution of incomes (rather than earnings) is positively associated with fiscal redistribution. In sum, revisiting an influential contribution to the literature offers no support for the proposition that the structure of inequality has consequences for fiscal redistribution.

中文翻译：

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不平等的结构可以解释财政重新分配吗？重新审视社会亲和力假设

卢普和蓬图森（2011）认为，收入不平等的结构而非其水平可以解释现代福利国家之间财政再分配的差异。与有力的证据支持这一主张的说法相反，本论文对以下论点提出质疑，即社会群体之间的分配效忠是相对收入差异的函数。它提出了三个主要主张：（a）收入分配的偏斜是原始论文的经验检验中的关键解释变量，是劳动力市场制度的结果，因此是福利国家的内在因素；（b）相对收入差异不是收入不平等结构，理论利息概念的有效替代指标；（c）没有迹象表明收入分配（而不是收入分配）的倾斜与财政再分配正相关。总而言之，重新审视对文献的有影响力的贡献并不能支持不平等结构对财政再分配产生影响的观点。