Different But Same. The Role of the Inheritance Tax and Narratives of the Economic Elites for Wealth Inequality in OECD States.: The Cases of Mexico and Germany

Abstract

Economic elites are powerful actors. Their influence on shaping the agenda, policy outcomes, and the public's preference has been empirically revealed. In the study of international political economy, however, these actors have not been integrated in the analysis of wealth inequality – which represents one of the most pressing problems of our time. And although we experience extreme levels of wealth inequality with ongoing consolidations of inheritance societies, the debate about a potentially powerful tool to reverse the trend – the inheritance tax – seems small and insignificant. In my PhD project I contribute to filling these research gaps in an intertwined manner by comparing Mexico and Germany. As different as Mexico and Germany are, they share an important commonality: At present, they have among the highest and nearly the same levels of wealth inequality – belonging to the most unequal democracies in the world and being rather inheritance societies than meritocracies. How have narratives and legal regulations of inheritance taxes evolved? And what are the narratives of elites towards wealth inequality and the inheritance tax? In a first step, I compare the historical development of inheritance regulations and its narratives in order to present the repertoires of narratives (RON). Once the scene is set, I present the centerpiece of my project: A narrative analysis of 38 semi-structured interviews with the economic elites, defined as CEOs, CFOs, board members, presidents and/or vice-presidents of the biggest companies in their countries. The elites' ideas, norms, and values, captured in their narratives on the topic of wealth inequality, have firstly, an explanatory power for preferences over design of public revenues, and secondly, they allow breaking through the inadequate yet extensive homogenous treatment of the group.