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Political parties have long been theorized as a key political institution that links society with the formal political system, and thus have often featured prominently in theories of political economy and redistribution. Curiously, however, until recently party systems have received substantially less attention in theories seeking to explain redistribution among both democratic and non-democratic regimes. I build on this nascent literature by conceptualizing the relationship between party systems, inequality, and redistribution, advancing the argument that at least a portion of inequality and income redistribution in any given country is attributable to dynamics within its party system—particularly their structure and institutionalization. Hegemonic party systems can initiate large waves of social reform and redistribution in their formative years but their redistributive prospects significantly wane the longer a hegemonic party remains in power, while two-party systems are unlikely to provide much, if any, alleviation of inequality. Multi-party systems provide the greatest potential to redistribute, but the relationship is conditional on their relative institutionalization. Stable multi-party systems with institutionalized parties are more likely to exhibit both lower levels of inequality and redistribute more income, whereas inchoate counterparts are unlikely to be more redistributive than either hegemonic or two-party systems.

Many have attributed the recent unprecedented wave of redistribution in Brazil to national economic and political factors such as the commodities boom, changes in minimum wages or premiums to skilled labor, the rise of the Partido dos Trabalhadores and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a commodities-driven economic boom. Yet much less attention has been devoted to the study of inequality at the subnational level, where trajectories of inequality across states remain incredibly varied. This article argues that Brazil's most recent democratic transition enhanced political competition in many Brazilian states, which in turn has contributed to the amelioration of inequality. Using an original time-series cross-sectional dataset covering the highly redistributive period of 1998–2015, this article finds that Brazilian states with higher political and party competition have lower levels of inequality than those with less competitive party systems. ResumoMuitos atribuíram a onda recente de renda redistribuição no Brasil por fatores econômicos e politicais nacionais como o 'boom de commodities,' câmbios no salários-mínimos, prêmios mais baixos para mão de obra qualificada, e a ascensão do Partido dos Trabalhadores e o Presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Embora, muito menos atenção foi dedicada para a pesquisa de desigualdade no nível subnacional, onde niveles relativos de desigualdade através os estados permanecem incrivelmente variados. Esse artigo faz o argumento que a transição democrática mais recente no Brasil aumentada competição em os sistemas de partidos de alguns estados, que por sua vez contribuiu para a melhoria de desigualdade. Utilizando dados do período 1998–2015, assim como análise qualitativa um par de estados, Pará e Rio Grande do Sul, esse artigo encontra os estados brasileiros com sistemas partidos mais competitivo são mais prováveis para avançar politicais de sociais e ter niveles mais baixos de desigualdade que outros com sistemas partidos menos competitivos.