Western Style Democratic Reform and Unfair Income Distribution——Empirical Evidence from Developing Countries
Based on panel data from 1989 to 2018,this article examines the impact of western style democratic on income distribution fairness from the perspective of developing countries.The results show that income inequality has deteriorated significantly with the improvement of western style democracy.Compared with low-income groups,the income of middle-income groups is squeezed more seriously.The mechanism test shows that western style democratic reform first leads to the expansion of income inequality by forcing the industrial structure of developing countries to shift from agriculture to manufacturing,and then the income inequality is further aggravated because the redistribution policy is biased towards high-income groups and is not conducive to low-income groups.The research in this paper shows that western style democracy is not a synonym for good governance,nor a prescription for bridging the gap between rich and poor.When selecting national governance models and political systems,developing countries should adjust measures to local conditions,comprehensively consider their own history,culture,development stages and other actual national conditions,and build a national governance model that conforms to their national conditions,which are the long-term governance strategies of the country.