Abstract
Much comparative politics scholarship has examined whether economic inequality affects democratic values or political support in democracies. What is lacking is a close examination of the political effects of economic inequality and, more importantly, how economic inequality shapes political support in non-democracies. We provide an empirical test of the effect of economic inequality on regime support using the China data from the Asian Barometer Survey between 2002 and 2015. We argue and demonstrate that perceived economic inequality significantly reduces regime support in China. Moreover, using a causal mediation analysis, we find that the detrimental effect of perceived economic inequality on regime support is not driven by demands for redistribution; rather, political value orientation plays an important mediating role between perceived economic inequality and regime support. These findings advance our understanding of the connection between economic inequality and political values and the economic base of political legitimacy in authoritarian countries.