abstract: 'In this study, we investigate how structural economic changes constrain

  an equality project, the public-sector expansion strategy. First, we

  describe a three-stage process in which a growing productivity gap

  between the private-manufacturing and public-service sectors disrupts

  traditional class solidarity. We contend that emerging conflicts between

  private and public sectors due to public-sector expansion and a growing

  inter-sectoral productivity gap eventually lead to employment and budget

  crises, as well as the weakening of coordinated wage-setting

  institutions. Furthermore, political, institutional, and economic

  transformations originating from sectoral cleavages and imbalance lead

  to increased income inequality. We test this argument using an

  unbalanced panel dataset on 16 advanced industrial democracies from 1971

  to 2003. We find that public-sector employment has a strong negative

  effect on income inequality when the productivity gap between sectors is

  low. In such situations, public-sector employment fulfills its promise

  of equality and full employment. However, as the inter-sectoral

  productivity gap increases, the negative effect of public-sector

  expansion on income inequality evaporates. The findings suggest that

  severely uneven productivity gaps due to different degrees of

  technological innovations significantly weaken and limit the

  effectiveness of left-wing governments'' policy interventions through

  public-service expansion.'
affiliation: 'Lee, CS (Corresponding Author), Univ Chicago, Dept Sociol, 1126 E 59th
  St, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.

  Lee, Cheol-Sung; Shim, Jae-Mahn, Univ Chicago, Dept Sociol, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.

  Kim, Young-Bum, Hallym Univ, Hallym Univ Inst Aging, Chunchon, South Korea.'
author: Lee, Cheol-Sung and Kim, Young-Bum and Shim, Jae-Mahn
author-email: chslee@uchicago.edu
author_list:
- family: Lee
  given: Cheol-Sung
- family: Kim
  given: Young-Bum
- family: Shim
  given: Jae-Mahn
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1177/0003122410396195
eissn: 1939-8271
files: []
issn: 0003-1224
journal: AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW
keywords: 'public-sector employment; sectoral productivity gap; sectoral conflicts;

  cross-class alliances; income inequality'
keywords-plus: 'WELFARE-STATE; FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT; RELATIVE POVERTY; INSTITUTIONS;

  POLITICS; REDISTRIBUTION; GLOBALIZATION; GROWTH; LABOR; STRATEGIES'
language: English
month: FEB
number: '1'
number-of-cited-references: '101'
orcid-numbers: Shim, Jae-Mahn/0000-0002-7752-8204
pages: 100-124
papis_id: 77ff2ea6c2d09424d478774f3bf580c3
ref: Lee2011limitequality
researcherid-numbers: Shim, Jae-Mahn/B-7392-2014
times-cited: '21'
title: 'The Limit of Equality Projects: Public-Sector Expansion, Sectoral Conflicts,
  and Income Inequality in Postindustrial Economies'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000287715100005
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '33'
volume: '76'
web-of-science-categories: Sociology
year: '2011'