Political support in hard times: do people care about national welfare?

Jana Friedrichsen and Philipp Zahn

No 12-12, Working Papers from University of Mannheim, Department of Economics

Abstract: During the Great Recession mass demonstrations indicated weakened political support in Europe. We show that growing dissatisfaction reflects poor economic conditions; unemployment is particularly important. Using individual level data for 16 Western European countries for 1976-2010, we find that national economic performance even matters beyond personal economic outcomes. Finally, while effects of growth and unemployment rates are the same across demographic subsets, the effect of inflation is heterogeneous. Younger, well-educated, or working individuals put relatively higher weight on price stability than the elderly, less skilled or not working. Our findings reinforce the political importance of employment and growth policies.

Keywords: Political support; satisfaction with democracy; growth; unemployment; collectivism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H11 O43 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Political support in hard times: Do people care about national welfare? (2014)
Working Paper: Political support in hard times: Do people care about national welfare? (2013)
Working Paper: The Macroeconomy and Individuals’ Support for Democracy (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mnh:wpaper:32076

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