Swiss system: whom does it favor?

I know the basics of the Swiss pairing system, but I also have a question:  does the Swiss system show any bias in favor of higher-rated or lower-rated players?  In other words, would two players of different ratings but the same strength have different chances of winning the event, given their different pairings?

Very hard to say. Also depends on the version of the swiss system used.

In some versions, rating is only used for the pairing of the first round, or first few rounds. In later rounds another criterion is used (typicallly "resistance points", sum of the scores so far of the opponents). There I feel that any difference in pairing strength in the first few rounds should be compensated in the later rounds. [ I believe the system "first three rounds swiss on rating / rest swiss on resistance points" is only used in the Netherlands ]

If rating is used for all the rounds, then there is of course a higher chance of an effect. How big it is is hard to say, for me anyway :-)

Of course, but given the same score, players with different ratings get different seedings (in case of swiss system on rating). The question is, what is the effect of that?

I guess the main answer is that the lower rated player really is of equal strength, he should work on getting himself an equal rating as well :-)

The clash of the two top performers is not slated for the final round at all. In fact, by the way the system works out, they try to match the top performers up as soon as possible. Mainly the top guys are against each other in the last round as often as you see it because tournaments nowadays generally don't have all that many rounds. In longer tourneys, though, the two top guys might play each other in, say round 7 of a 15 round event, and they definitely won't play again.

Basically, the swiss doesn't favour any rating or rating range, but it does favour some styles - especially those who play for wins with black, as is almost necessary to do well in swisses

(We meet again.)  I agree, there's no disposition for playing the top 2 players in the final round.  But nor do they try to match the top performers up as soon as possible -- that would be in the 1st round, and not even Accelerated Swiss pairings usually do that.

To say the Swiss system favors certain styles, e.g. those who play for wins with Black (and presumably White too, right?), is simply to say that it favors those who plays for a maximum number of wins.  That's the kind of "favoritism" I like!

That's not true. Say there are 10 players in the top group, sorted on rating. If they tried to match to the top performers as soon as possible, that'd mean pairing 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4 et cetera. Instead, the Swiss system pairs 1 vs 6, 2 vs 7, etc (if possible).