...Dan Alexander; Asya Magazinnik Both the academic political science literature and the popular discourse are replete with narratives seeking to explain the concurrent rise of income inequality and legislative polarization over the past half century. We focus on a prominent subset of such accounts...

... to settler colonialism as a crucial determinant of present levels of income inequality in former settler colonies. However, a closer look at historical data suggests that while legacies of settler colonialism do predict higher levels of inequality at independence, they do not preclude the possibility...

... equality is to be initially achieved through policy interventions, but must also think about whether and how we can ensure equality will persist through time. Homestead Act property rights economic development persistence inequality Passed by the United States Congress in 1862...