論文提要 改革是社會主義制度的自我完善與發展，是經濟體制和經濟增長方式根本轉變的動力，也是建立新的工資分配機制的必經之路。而工資分配格局的改革，是整個社會經濟改革的一個重要環節，關係著各方面利益關係的調整和變動，也關係著社會主義市場經濟的發展和現代企業制度的形成。研究工資改革的歷程、條件、矛盾、主要經驗和發展趨勢對於工資改革的繼續深入發展，全面運作目標的確定，理性思維能力的提高，都是必要的。工資改革的實踐是一個基礎，對這種實踐的認識、探索、合理引導是一項長期的任務。 中國大陸自改革開放以來，工資制度改革方興未艾。隨著國家經濟體制改革總體目標--建立社會主以市場經濟體制確立之後，工資分配制度的改革在新形勢下面臨的一個重大課題是：工資改革該如何運作？改革的目標是什麼？如何實現改革的目標？為此，改革須從以下三各思路著手：首先，要研究並確立工資制度改革的目標，即建立社會主義市場經濟條件下國有企業工資分配體制目標模式；第二，要分析並把握國有企業工資體制改革的現狀；第三，要根據工資體制改革目標模式的要求，立足於城鎮地區職工工資分配的現實基礎，積極創造有利的環境條件，採取相應措施，不斷推進工資改革，逐步實現工資改革向社會主義市場經濟條件下目標體制的過渡。 根據研究資料顯示，在中國大陸城鎮地區，由於工資制度改革提高了大部分職工的工資收入，隨著經濟改革的深化與經濟持續的成長，職工對工資收入提高的需求不斷膨脹，然而企業經營效益未能有效提高，工資的發放受到企業經營效益與工資總額限制地影響，當經濟成長到達某一個階段後，職工工資總額成長反而慢了下來。改革二十年來，經濟隨然維持著一定的增長速率，但是城鎮職工獲取工資收入的心態仍殘存著傳統平均分配的心態，無法良好適應市場機制中透過競爭與付出相對勞動量獲取勞動工資的方式。然而部分職工可以經由市場經濟體制獲得較高的工資收入，工資的差距就形成了工資攀比的來源。吃慣企業『大鍋飯』的職工們試圖在雙重經濟體制下，從工資攀比中擠佔企業留利、變相轉化福利補貼項目為個人收入，這也形成許多行政力量難以管制、且市場機能無法調節的灰色地帶或真空地帶，讓工資攀比行為有機可趁，混亂了整體的工資分配格局。 本文透過相關統計資料所作的因素分析，發現在城鎮職工工資總額構成中，基本工資對工資增長的影響力相對越來越小；另外，非工資收入的部分之比重則逐年上升，且普遍呈現平均發放的狀態。資料顯示基本工資的比重下降主要是因為基本工資增長缺乏正常增資晉級機制，加上雙重體制下的工資攀比因素，獲取非工資收入渠道增加，非工資收入對整體工資收入的構成就起著相當決定性的影響。要體現工資所具有的激勵、調節與分配等功能，主要是透過基本工資來反映職工勞動貢獻，而從分析中發現基本工資本身也存在平均發放的現象，職工工資收入並不能明顯反映勞動生產力的差異性，顯然職工並未從勞動過程中分配到應有的工資報酬。除了基本工資增長緩慢與平均發放的現象外，雙軌體制運行造成其它難以調控的分配渠道大量存在，加上企業普遍缺乏『硬預算約束』以及勞動力無法自由流動，也使得職工有機會獲取非工資收入，降低工資調節、分配的功能。 本文進一步利用基尼係數檢視中國大陸城鎮職工收入分配情況。研究發現，改革開放初期，中國大陸城鎮地區的基尼係數顯示出收入分配差距很小，在低工資的配給制度下，收入差距微乎其微，隨著改革開放的腳步向前邁進，中共國家統計局估計的基尼係數顯示城鎮地區基尼係數有緩步增加，但仍保持在合理區間，經濟成長似乎並未將收入差距擴大到不合理的狀況。然而工資收入中存在著許多難以估計的隱性收入部分，這部分收入並非單純透過基尼係數所能確實衡量反應的，由此可知，經濟改革的確拉大了收入差距，但收入差距也伴隨著平均主義共生。 工資制度在雙軌體制下進行改革，改變了職工的工資結構，而工資結構的變化進一步影響了工資分配的格局。照理說，工資制度的改革最主要的目的是為了提昇經濟效率，減輕平均主義衍生的職工惰性，但在實際情況中卻演變成薪平均主義與收入差距懸殊並存的現象。造成這種情形的主要原因在於工資分配機制尚未完全納入市場機能運作中，工資分配結構難以合理化、正常化。研究結果顯示，工資制度改革未能達到預期效果，除了內在因素外，有相當大的部分是源於外在的整體市場結構未健全化，體制改革不配套，導致工資改革措施難以落實。 健全發展與落實工資制度，工資的功能才能有效發揮，達到兼顧效率與公平的收入分配格局。就其內在因素來看，主要是要健全正常的工資增長晉級制度，減少工資分配格局中的無序現象；其次是要建立現代化企業制度，使企業能自主經營、自負盈虧。就外在因素來看，需建立國家宏觀調控機制，督導、促進企業工資分配制度完善化；工資制度盡可能完善化之後，再和整體經濟體制改革進行配套改革發展，以便順利過渡到市場經濟體制，維持持續的經濟成長。

Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

<p>This study seeks to assess the level of women&rsquo / s participation and involvement in the promotion of effective governance during the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) implementation exercise in 2007, which was endorsed by the APRM Western Cape Province. The interest of the study arises from the concept of &lsquo / good governance&rsquo / and how the implementation of such a concept is carried out in the rendering of public services, specifically the role of women in rendering public service in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.</p>

L'entorn econòmic de l'Índia ha canviat significativament a partir de la seva independència de Gran Bretanya l'any 1947. Després de més de tres dècades de creixement econòmic mediocre, els 80 va marcar el començament d'una nova etapa d'altes taxes de creixement econòmic a partir de noves polítiques econòmiques més orientades a una més competitiva economia de mercat. Tot i la millora en taxes de creixement, aquest model de creixement es basava en gran mesura en un gran protagonisme per part de la despesa pública, el que va precipitar la crisi financera de 1991. Com a resultat d'aquesta crisi i l'assistència proporcionada pel FMI, es van introduir reformes desreguladores i liberalitzadores. La dècada dels 90 va ser acompanyada de taxes de creixement encara més altes que la dècada anterior. En la dècada més recent, els 2000, l'obertura estable de l'economia Índia ha permès taxes de creixement més altes que en les dècades anteriors. Desafortunadament, aquest gran creixement econòmic ha anat acompanyat amb un augment important dels nivells de desigualtat d'ingrés durant aquest mateix període, tant a nivell nacional com entre els estats que formen part de l'Índia. Aquesta tesi es concentra en l'estudi de la relació entre creixement econòmic i desigualtat de l'ingrés, tant a nivell nacional com entre els estats. Aquest projecte de recerca també inclou cobertura exhaustiva respecte a l'evolució d'altres variables macroeconòmiques als dos nivells: nacional i inter-estatal. / El entorno económico de la India ha cambiado significativamente a partir de su independencia de Gran Bretaña en el año 1947. Después de más de tres décadas de crecimiento económico mediocre, los 80 marcó el comienzo de una nueva etapa de altas tasas de crecimiento económico a partir de nuevas políticas económicas más orientadas a una más competitiva economía de mercado. A pesar de la mejora en tasas de crecimiento, dicho modelo de crecimiento se basaba en gran medida en un gran protagonismo por parte del gasto público, lo que precipitó la crisis financiera de 1991. Como resultado de dicha crisis, y la asistencia proporcionada por el FMI se introdujeron reformas desreguladoras y liberalizadoras. La década de los 90 fue acompañada de tasas de crecimiento aún más altas que la década anterior. En la década más reciente, los 2000, la apertura estable de la economía India ha permitido tasas de crecimiento más altas que en las décadas anteriores. Desafortunadamente, este gran crecimiento económico ha ido acompañado con un aumento importante de los niveles de desigualdad de ingreso durante este mismo periodo, tanto a nivel nacional como entre los estados que forman parte de la India. Esta tesis se concentra en el estudio de la relación entre crecimiento económico y desigualdad del ingreso, tanto a nivel nacional como entre los estados. Dicho proyecto de investigación también incluye cobertura exhaustiva con respecto a la evolución de otras variables macroeconómicas a los dos niveles: nacional e inter-estatal. / India’s economic climate has experienced significant change since its independence from Great Britain in 1947. After more than three decades of mediocre economic growth, the 1980s ushered in a new era of accelerated growth rates by way of promoting a more efficient pro-business model. Despite the improvement in growth rates, the 1980s were fueled by over zealous public spending, precipitating the well-known financial crisis in 1991. As a result of the crisis, and the IMF supplied aid contingent on the introduction of gradual deregulatory reforms of the Indian economy, the 1990s brought about even greater economic growth rates than the previous decade. Into the 2000s, India’s continued and steady opening has afforded even further acceleration in growth rates. Despite these positive developments in the Indian economy, the unfortunate truth is that income inequality has likewise been increasing over this same period, most notably across the states. This dissertation endeavors to apply the established macroeconomic field dedicated to the study of income inequality’s effect on economic growth to the case of India, both at the national level and even more critically at the state level. Our research also includes exhaustive coverage regarding the evolution of other relevant macroeconomic variables across states, as well as nationally.

社會安全制度，以社會保險及公共救助為主體，兩者之中尤以社會保險為骨幹，社會保險通常扮演著重要的角色。當中一項重要的功能即為所得（財富）重分配功能，亦即政府借助社會保險之力，達成安定經濟社會與改善國民所得分配不均，以達公平之目標。 本文在實證方法上採用「吉尼係數法」與「變異係數法」來計算社會保險的所得重分配效果。利用民國八十五年至民國九十一年行政院主計處「中華民國臺灣地區家庭收支調查報告」之調查資料，探討臺灣地區所得分配不均度上升的原因是否來自於城鄉差異，其次是社會保險政策對於平衡城鄉差距是否有助益。 為了衡量社會保險的所得重分配效果是否會因城鄉發展程度之不同而有所差異，將臺灣地區內之城市分為都市、城鎮及鄉村三級，其分層標準係依照行政院主計處「中華民國臺灣地區家庭收支調查報告」之標準分類。本研究以城鄉別與社會保險為研究主軸，探討臺灣社會保險的所得重分配效果是否在不同城鄉間會有所影響。 綜合研究結果及分析，對於民國八十五至九十一年社會保險實施的所得重分配效果所得到的結論為：1.臺灣地區自民國八十五年後無論是區分層級或整體所得分配效果上的吉尼係數均有逐漸縮小的趨勢，代表政府對於平均所得分配之努力是有所成效的。2.在吉尼係數法下，除了「都市層」外，社會保險實施後「城鎮層」、「鄉村層」與整體所得分配效果的吉尼係數值均高於較社會保險實施前，顯示社會保險政策在平衡城鄉所得差異上的力量似乎薄弱了些。3.在變異係數法下，無論是分層效果或是整體效果實施社會保險後整體的所得分配平均化力量均減弱，故社會保險政策在平均所得分配的效果上似乎沒有達到預期的成效。4.綜合上述兩種方法，除了吉尼係數法下的「都市層」有達成社會保險的所得重分配效果外，吉尼係數法與變異係數法的其他層級和整體效果分析均顯示出實施社會保險未達成所得重分配的效果。 / Social insurance and public rescue are two main components of social security system. Especially, social insurance is also the skeleton of social security system, which has many important functions, one of which is improving the inequity of people’s income assignment. It means that the government redistributes people’s income through social insurance to achieve the goal of equity and further to stabilize economic society. This article uses the data of "Republic of China Taiwan area family budget survey reported", which comes from 1996 to 2002 Directorate－General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, R.O.C.(Taiwan), as investigation material. We calculate the income redistribution effect of social insurance by means of "Gini Coefficient method" and "Coefficient of Variation method". This article has two issues, one of which discusses whether the income inequality in Taiwan does come from the difference between city and countryside. The other one is the benefit of social security policy to balance of disparity of city and countryside. In order to assess whether the income redistribution effects of social security has the difference between cities, we divide the cities in Taiwan into three groups: metropolis, countries and villages, according to standard classification of the investigation material. We use difference between cities and social insurance as two axes of our study to evaluate the effect of income redistribution between different cities. To the effect of social insurance on income redistribution from 1996 to 2002, our study has following findings. First, regardless of classification or summation analysis, the Gini coefficient of income redistribution was gradually reducing from 1996 to 2002. This means that income redistribution policy of government is effective. Second, in Gini Coefficient method, country group and village group had higher Gini Coefficient than before executing social insurance policy. The conclusion shows the influence of social insurance was still not efficient. Third, in Coefficient of Variation method, classification and summation analysis both revealed income redistribution was weaker than before executing social insurance policy, so the policy did not achieve the expected effect. From the above findings, although the metropolis group in Coefficient method did improve income redistribution, other analysis did not achieve the goal of income redistribution.

<p>This study seeks to assess the level of women&rsquo / s participation and involvement in the promotion of effective governance during the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) implementation exercise in 2007, which was endorsed by the APRM Western Cape Province. The interest of the study arises from the concept of &lsquo / good governance&rsquo / and how the implementation of such a concept is carried out in the rendering of public services, specifically the role of women in rendering public service in the Western Cape Province, South Africa.</p>

This thesis studies the effects of specific community- driven developer programmes run in Evaton West over the past three years (200011 to 200314) on poverty in the area. These programmes were targeted at poverty reduction and community development in Evaton West, driven by the Eindhoven municipality and COL~AP~A'@. The relationship between the Eindhoven Municipality and the Ernfuleni Municipality started as a result of the twinning of Tilburg and Eindhoven cities in the Netherlands with the erstwhile LekoaNaal Local Metropolitan Council. Evaton West was chosen as a pilot site for Eindhoven to run practical IDP programmes at, as an example of what can be achieved from properly run community-based programmes. COL~AP~Aw' as introduced to Evaton West by the Vaal University of Technology's Community Service department. Its programmes were aimed at poverty alleviation through small-scale business initiatives coupled with leadership training in the area. The approach in the thesis is to define poverty, measure it and determine the profile of the poor. This is done firstly employing household-level indicators and secondly employing community-level indicators. At household level, some of the following tools are used: the poverty line (HSL), headcount index, the poverty gap, dependency ratio, the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. Unemployment is also used to determine poverty levels. At community level, the thesis employs tools such as community characteristics, community assets, principal services, education, health and environmental issues. The thesis ends with specific recommendations. In particular, formation of co-operatives and the introduction of the basic income grant (BIG) are proposed. The thesis shows that compared to Bophelong, which is approximately similar to Evaton West in terms of age and composition of residents (especially based on age analysis), Evaton West is worse-off judging by poverty and welfare at household level. It proposes that one of the problems is Evaton West's geographical displacement. The thesis also shows that compared to three years ago, Evaton west is marginally better-off judging from the community indicators applied. It ascribed such improvement to the application of the above-stated community-driven development projects in Evaton West. Finally, the thesis suggests that one of the major solutions in dealing with poverty is to consider small-scale, home-based industries that allow for easy entry. Such projects can only succeed if they are approached in an integrated manner in which local authorities are fully involved. Labour absorption capacity of large industries is declining. This forces policy-making to be redirected to alternative sources of employment. The thesis contributes ways in which community-driven development programmes may be assessed at household and community levels. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

This thesis studies the effects of specific community- driven developer programmes run in Evaton West over the past three years (200011 to 200314) on poverty in the area. These programmes were targeted at poverty reduction and community development in Evaton West, driven by the Eindhoven municipality and COL~AP~A'@. The relationship between the Eindhoven Municipality and the Ernfuleni Municipality started as a result of the twinning of Tilburg and Eindhoven cities in the Netherlands with the erstwhile LekoaNaal Local Metropolitan Council. Evaton West was chosen as a pilot site for Eindhoven to run practical IDP programmes at, as an example of what can be achieved from properly run community-based programmes. COL~AP~Aw' as introduced to Evaton West by the Vaal University of Technology's Community Service department. Its programmes were aimed at poverty alleviation through small-scale business initiatives coupled with leadership training in the area. The approach in the thesis is to define poverty, measure it and determine the profile of the poor. This is done firstly employing household-level indicators and secondly employing community-level indicators. At household level, some of the following tools are used: the poverty line (HSL), headcount index, the poverty gap, dependency ratio, the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. Unemployment is also used to determine poverty levels. At community level, the thesis employs tools such as community characteristics, community assets, principal services, education, health and environmental issues. The thesis ends with specific recommendations. In particular, formation of co-operatives and the introduction of the basic income grant (BIG) are proposed. The thesis shows that compared to Bophelong, which is approximately similar to Evaton West in terms of age and composition of residents (especially based on age analysis), Evaton West is worse-off judging by poverty and welfare at household level. It proposes that one of the problems is Evaton West's geographical displacement. The thesis also shows that compared to three years ago, Evaton west is marginally better-off judging from the community indicators applied. It ascribed such improvement to the application of the above-stated community-driven development projects in Evaton West. Finally, the thesis suggests that one of the major solutions in dealing with poverty is to consider small-scale, home-based industries that allow for easy entry. Such projects can only succeed if they are approached in an integrated manner in which local authorities are fully involved. Labour absorption capacity of large industries is declining. This forces policy-making to be redirected to alternative sources of employment. The thesis contributes ways in which community-driven development programmes may be assessed at household and community levels. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Economics))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2004.

O dilema do prisioneiro (DP) é um dos principais jogos da teoria dos jogos. No dilema do prisioneiro discreto (DPD), dois prisioneiros têm as opções de cooperar ou desertar. Um jogador cooperador não delata seu comparsa, já um desertor delata. Se um cooperar e o outro desertar, o cooperador fica preso por cinco anos e o desertor fica livre. Se ambos cooperarem, ficam presos por um ano e, se ambos desertarem, ficam presos por três anos. Quando o DP é repetido, a cooperação pode emergir entre agentes egoístas. Realizamos um estudo analítico para o DPD, que produziu uma formulação da evolução do nível médio de cooperação e da tentação crítica (valor de tentação que causa mudança abrupta do nível de cooperação). No dilema do prisioneiro contínuo (DPC), cada jogador apresenta um nível de cooperação que define o grau de cooperação. Utilizamos o DPC para estudar o efeito da personalidade dos jogadores sobre a emergência da cooperação. Para isso, propusemos novas estratégias: uma baseada na personalidade dos jogadores e outras duas baseadas na comparação entre o ganho obtido e a aspiração do jogador. Todas as estratégias apresentavam algum mecanismo de cópia do estado do vizinho com maior ganho na vizinhança, mecanismo este, herdado da estratégia darwiniana. Os resultados mostraram que o DPC aumenta o nível médio de cooperação do sistema, quando comparado ao DPD. No entanto, as diferentes estratégias não aumentaram a cooperação comparado à cooperação obtida com a estratégia darwiniana. Então propusemos o uso do coeficiente de agrupamentos, coeficiente de Gini e entropias de Shannon, Tsallis e Kullback-Leibler para classificar os sistemas, em que os agentes jogam o DPD com a estratégia darwiniana, quanto ao nível de cooperação. Como analisamos valores de médias configuracionais, tais classificadores não foram eficientes ao classificar os sistemas. Isso é consequência da existência de distribuições de extremos nos resultados que compõem as médias. As distribuições de extremos suscitaram uma discussão acerca da definição do regime de cooperação no dilema do prisioneiro. Discutimos também as consequências de utilizar apenas valores médios nos resultados ignorando seus desvios e as distribuições. / Prisoner\'s dilemma (PD) is one of the main games of game theory. In discrete prisoner\'s dilemma (DPD), two prisoners have the options to cooperate or to defect. A cooperator player does not defect his accomplice, while a defector does. If one player cooperates and the other defects, the cooperator gets jailed for five years and the defector goes free. If both cooperate, they get jailed during one year and if both defect, they get jailed during three years. When this game is repeated, cooperation may emerge among selfish individuals. We perform an analytical study for the DPD, that produced a formulation for the evolution of the mean cooperation level and for the critical temptation values (temptation values that promote abrupt modifications in the cooperation level). In continuous prisoner\'s dilemma (CPD), each player has a level of cooperation that defines his/her degree of cooperation. We used the CPD to study the effect of the players\' personality on the emergence of cooperation. For this, we propose new strategies: one based on the players\' personality and two others based on the comparison between the player\'s obtained payoff and the desire one. All strategies present some mechanism that copies the state of the neighbor with the highest payoff in the neighborhood, mechanism inherited from the Darwinian strategy. The results showed that the CPD increases the average cooperation level of the system when compared to DPD. However, different strategies do not increased the cooperation compared to cooperation obtained with the Darwinian strategy. So, we propose the use of cluster coefficient, Gini coefficient and entropy of Shannon, Tsallis and Kullback-Leibler as classifiers to classify systems, in which the individuals play DPD with Darwinian strategy, by the cooperation level. As configurational averages were analyzed, such classifiers were not efficient in classifying the systems. This is due to the existence of distributions with extreme values of the results that compose the means. Distributions with extremes values emerged a discussion about the definition of the cooperation state in the prisoner\'s dilemma. We also discussed the consequences of using only average results in the analysis ignoring their deviations and distributions.

O objetivo primordial deste trabalho é analisar se a democracia é uma instituição política que produz resultados econômicos menos desiguais do que os regimes autoritários. A importância deste tema reside no fato que a própria promoção da democracia na agenda da política internacional tornou-se fundamental por inúmeras razões entre as quais sua suposta propensão em reduzir estas disparidades econômicas. Em primeiro lugar apresentamos no Capítulo 1 um balanço da discussão teórica e empírica a partir da qual constatamos que, a despeito do senso comum de que a democracia está relacionada a uma cidadania mais igualitária, os seus efeitos sobre a desigualdade ainda são discutíveis. Mesmo existindo um razoável consenso teórico de que os regimes democráticos devem, de alguma forma, produzir uma melhor distribuição de bens, os resultados empíricos são inconclusivos e contraditórios. Em seguida, diante de tal impasse empírico, propomos no Capítulo 2 uma reformulação da argumentação na qual entendemos que os efeitos da democracia sobre a desigualdade devem ser reinterpretados. A principal contribuição da tese reside na constatação, tanto teórica quanto empírica, de que estes efeitos são heterogêneos e interagem com o próprio nível de desigualdade, e, por conseguinte, é equivocado o suposto de que esses efeitos são homogêneos e independentes do contexto sócio-econômico da desigualdade. No Capítulo 3 apresentamos os dados e os conceitos de democracia e desigualdade. Assumimos que democracia se caracteriza como o regime político no qual os líderes competem entre si por meio de eleições e verificamos se os seus efeitos variam ao longo da própria distribuição de desigualdade econômica mensurada pelo coeficiente de GINI. Para tal análise, realizamos uma série de modelos de regressão quantílica, a metodologia adequada para avaliar o debate sobre a heterogeneidade versus homogeneidade dos efeitos. O argumento teórico, a partir do qual elabora-se a hipótese dos efeitos heterogêneos, refere-se à necessidade de uma convergência entre os interesses eleitorais dos partidos o lado da oferta e as clivagens sobre as quais uma potencial maioria dos eleitores tem interesse em ser atendido o lado da demanda por políticas públicas e plataformas. Isto posto, é 9 necessário discutir as condições que estimulam as lideranças políticas a utilizarem o problema da desigualdade econômica como argumento eleitoral e as condições nas quais surge uma demanda dos cidadãos por redistribuição via ação estatal. Somente nas sociedades mais desiguais tanto os partidos políticos têm interesse em ofertar políticas redistributivas, quanto tende a surgir no seio da cidadania uma demanda por redistribuição por parte de uma maioria de eleitores. No Capítulo 4 comprovamos empiricamente que os efeitos da competição democrática em sociedades mais desiguais são diferentes seus efeitos em sociedades mais iguais; e estes efeitos estão em direção à maior redução da desigualdade apenas nas sociedades mais desiguais. Os resultados são robustos às mais diferentes especificações dos modelos estatísticos, dados e formas de mensuração, tanto de democracia quanto de desigualdade, em diferentes cortes temporais e horizontes históricos de análise. Inclusive quando estendemos o recorte temporal para antes do pós-2ª Guerra Mundial utilizando dados que abrangem o período de surgimento dos primeiros regimes representativos democráticos no século XIX, a veracidade das hipóteses dos efeitos heterogêneos e de que há maior contundência da democracia em direção à redução da desigualdade nas sociedades mais desiguais permanece. Por fim, além deste problema teórico e empírico de crucial importância, também controlamos a análise para a potencial relação recíproca entre democracia e desigualdade. Enquanto parte da literatura discute os potenciais efeitos igualitários da democracia, outra importante literatura debate se o aumento da desigualdade aumenta ou reduz a probabilidade de um país tornar-se ou manter-se democrático. Posto isto, apresentamos uma lista de variáveis instrumentais para estimar validamente os efeitos da democracia sobre a desigualdade independente da relação entre desigualdade e democracia / The primary aim of this study is to analyze whether democracy is a political institution that produces less unequal economic outcomes than authoritarian regimes. The importance of this issue lies in the fact that the very promotion of democracy in the international political agenda has become essential for many reasons, including its supposed propensity to reduce economic disparities. First, at Chapter 1 we overview the theoretical and empirical discussion from which we find that despite the common sense that democracy must be related to a more egalitarian citizenship, its effects on inequality is still debatable. Even with a reasonable theoretical consensus that democracies must somehow produce a better distribution of goods; the empirical results are inconclusive and contradictory. After that, facing such empirical impasse, we propose at Chapter 2 a reformulation about the rationale to explain and analyze the effects of democracy on inequality. The main contribution of this thesis lies in both the theoretical and the empirical claim that these effects are heterogeneous and should interact with the level of inequality and, therefore, the assumption that these effects are homogeneous and independent of the socio-economic context of inequality is wrong. In Chapter 3, we present the data and concepts of democracy and inequality. We assume that democracy is characterized as a political regime in which leaders compete through elections and we test whether the effects vary along the distribution of economic inequality measured by the Gini coefficient. To do that, we conducted a series of quantile regression models, appropriate to evaluate the alternative hypothesis whether the effects are heterogeneous or homogenous. The theoretical argument, from which we elaborate the hypothesis of heterogeneous effects, refers to the need for a convergence between the electoral interests of the parties - the supply side - and the political cleavages on which a majority of voters have potential interest being played - the demand side for other public policies and platforms. Hence, it is necessary to discuss the conditions that lead the political leadership to use the problem of economic 11 inequality as an electoral argument and the conditions under which a demand by citizens for redistribution via state action rises. Only at the most unequal societies the political parties have an interest in offering redistributive policies, as well as there is a higher propensity for a redistribution demand by a majority of voters. In Chapter 4, we proved empirically that the effects of democratic competition at more unequal societies are different from the effects of democracy in more equal societies; and these effects tend to be greater toward inequality reduction only at more unequal societies. These results are robust to different statistical model specifications, data and measurement methods, about both democracy and inequality, and to the use of different time horizons. Even when we extend the time frame of the analysis to the period before World War II - using new data that covers XIX century, the veracity of the hypotheses about the heterogeneous effects and that these effects of democracy toward the reduction of inequality are larger at the most unequal societies remains intact. Finally, beyond this theoretical and empirical issue of crucial importance, we also control the analysis for potential reciprocal relationship between democracy and inequality. This is because while much of the literature discusses the potential effects of egalitarian democracy, another important literature debate discusses whether greater inequality increases or reduces the probability of a country become or remain democratic. Hence, we present a list of valid instrumental variables to estimate the effects of democracy on inequality independent of the relationship between inequality and democracy