European identity and redistributive preferences

Joan Costa-Font and Frank Cowell ()

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: How important is spatial identity in shifting preferences for redistribution? This paper takes advantage of withincountry variability in the adoption of a single currency as an instrument to examine the impact of the rescaling of spatial identity in Europe. We draw upon data from the last three decades of waves of the European Values Survey and we examine the impact of joining the single currency on preferences for re-distribution. Our instrumentation strategy relies on using the exogenous effect of joining a common currency, alongside a battery of robustness checks and alternative instruments. Our findings suggest that joining the euro has a boosting effect on European identity; an opposite and comparable effect is found for national pride. We find that European identity increases preferences for redistribution, and that national pride exerts an equivalent reduction in preferences for redistribution.

Keywords: Spatial identity; Europe; welfare state support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D69 H53 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-ltv and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63802/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: European Identity and Redistributive Preferences (2015)
Working Paper: European Identity and Redistributive Preferences (2015)
Working Paper: European Identity and Redistributive Preferences (2015)
Working Paper: European identity and redistributive preferences (2015)
Working Paper: European Identity and Redistributive Preferences (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:63802

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