Why political inequality is to blame for economic and social injustice

Political equality is the most basic tenet of democracy. Yet in America and other democratic nations, those with political power have special access to markets and public services. A Republic of Equals traces the massive income inequality observed in the United States and other rich democracies to politicized markets and avoidable gaps in opportunity--and explains why they are the root cause of what ails democracy today.

In this provocative book, economist Jonathan Rothwell draws on the latest empirical evidence from across the social sciences to demonstrate how rich democracies have allowed racial politics and the interests of those at the top to subordinate justice. He looks at the rise of nationalism in Europe and the United States, revealing how this trend overlaps with racial prejudice and is related to mounting frustration with a political status quo that thrives on income inequality and inefficient markets. But economic differences are by no means inevitable. Differences in group status by race and ethnicity are dynamic and have reversed themselves across continents and within countries. Inequalities persist between races in the United States because Black Americans are denied equal access to markets and public services. Meanwhile, elite professional associations carve out privileged market status for their members, leading to compensation in excess of their skills.

A Republic of Equals provides a bold new perspective on how to foster greater political and social equality, while moving societies closer to what a true republic should be.

Jonathan Rothwell is Gallup’s Principal Economist, where he researches and publishes on a broad range of social science topics and advises Gallup clients and associates on research questions and analytics, particularly in the areas of higher education, job quality, the effects of trade and technology on the labor market, and entrepreneurship. Rothwell occasionally contributes to the New York Times’s Upshot column and is host of the Gallup-Knight Foundation podcast Out of the Echo Chamber, about the relationship between news media and democracy. 

Rothwell is author of the book “A Republic of Equals: A Manifesto for a Just Society,” which will be published by Princeton University Press in November 2019. Rothwell is also a visiting scholar at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy.

While at Gallup, Rothwell scholarly publications have included an analysis of who supported various presidential candidates during the 2016 election, the causes of slowing U.S. productivity growth, the effect of trade competition on regional economic outcomes, and the validity of using consumer ratings to assess colleges. 

In collaboration with Brookings scholars, Rothwell has been actively involved in research studying the assets of majority-Black neighborhoods.

Before joining Gallup, Rothwell was a fellow at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. Rothwell  frequently published research on issues such as trade; innovation; zoning and housing markets; education; college quality; the supply and demand for skills; residential segregation by income, race and ethnicity; and the causes of income inequality. Rothwell was a regular contributor to Social Mobility Memos, the Brookings blog on social mobility. In 2015, Rothwell was commissioned by the National Academies of Science to define “skilled technical work.”

Education 

Ph.D. Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
M.A. Economics, New School
M.A. Clinical Psychology, Duquesne University
B.S. Psychology, Biological and Evolutionary Concentration, Pennsylvania State University, University Park

Source: Brookings