Versus redistribution
Hacker (2011) argues for acting on market incomes; Hacker and Pierson (2010) show politics shapes them.
Tools
Minimum wages, unions, training and governance reform (Chwalisz & Diamond, 2015; Thelen, 2014), echoing Rawls (2001).
Evidence and critiques
Bozio et al. (2024) find pre-tax gaps dominate; critics say both are needed, as the paradox of redistribution and power resources suggest.
FAQ
- What is it in simple terms?
- Making pay less unequal from the start.
- Does it replace redistribution?
- No; most see the two as complements.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Hacker, J. S. (2011). The institutional foundations of middle-class democracy. Policy Network. The essay that coined the term, on reducing inequality at the market stage.
- Hacker, J. S. (2013). Predistribution and institutional design. In Progressive politics after the crash. I.B. Tauris. A chapter specifying the concept through institutional design.
- Chwalisz, C., & Diamond, P. (Eds.). (2015). The predistribution agenda: Tackling inequality and supporting sustainable growth. I.B. Tauris. An edited volume applying the idea to labour markets, education and finance.
- Hacker, J. S., & Pierson, P. (2010). Winner-take-all politics: Public policy, political organization, and the precipitous rise of top incomes in the United States. Politics & Society, 38(2), 152–204. Shows market inequality is shaped by politics, the theory's backdrop.
- Bozio, A., Garbinti, B., Goupille-Lebret, J., Guillot, M., & Piketty, T. (2024). Predistribution versus redistribution: Evidence from France and the United States. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 16(2), 31–65. Evidence that US–France gaps stem from predistribution more than redistribution.
- Thelen, K. (2014). Varieties of liberalization and the new politics of social solidarity. Cambridge University Press. Compares labour-market institutions that underpin predistribution.
- Rawls, J. (2001). Justice as fairness: A restatement (E. Kelly, Ed.). Harvard University Press. Property-owning democracy, a philosophical root of predistribution.