Discontent with democracy
The link between views of the economy and assessments of democratic performance is strong. The impression that politicians are incapable or unwilling to deal with the socioeconomic issues generated by globalization and technology advances drives dissatisfaction with democracy.
Many Across the Globe Are Dissatisfied With How Democracy Is Working
By: Richard Wike, Laura Silver, Alexandra Castillo – Pew Research
In need of a new social contract
First, a society with a strong (weak) civic culture encourages provision of public goods which increases (decreases) the payo§ of civic-minded citizens relative to materialists. Thus weak or strong civic-cultures are mutually reinforcing. This feature of the model can generate multiple steady states leading to hysteresis with eventual outcome depending on the initial conditions. The second complementarity comes from cohesive institutions constraining government and therefore favoring civic-minded citizens over materialists. Governments who lack constraints will tend to disappoint their civic-minded citizens leading to an erosion in civic culture over time.
State Capacity, Reciprocity and the Social Contract
Author: Timothy Besley
From: LSE
Steps towards the new social contract
Three principles, considered jointly, could redesign a stable social contract and support a future of sustained shared prosperity:
- Move toward equal protection of all workers, no matter their type of employment, while promoting labor markets’ flexibility;
- Seek universality in the provision of social assistance, social insurance, and basic quality services; and
- Support progressivity in a broad tax base that complements labor income taxation with the taxation of capital.
Do we need a new social contract?
By: Maurizio Bussolo, Marc Fleurbaey – Brookings
