The role of the state in the economy: voters and parties during Economic crisis

• In Event: Great Recession: Effect on Parties and Protest

Abstract

How did economic preferences change during the recent financial and economic crisis? How responsive are parties to their voters’ preferences with regard to the role the state should play in the economy? While a large literature has studied preferences for redistribution, more general economic preferences have received less attention. Because the salience of the economy has increased in European countries since the beginning of the financial crisis, we could expect that voters are better informed about the economy and have more precise preferences about the degree politics should intervene in the economy. Parties, on the other hand, will not only face constraints with regard to their economic policies but also with regard to the promises the make in their electoral campaign, especially in countries where the crisis had a strong impact and where the government had to implement harsh austerity measures. Based on data from the European Election Studies and the Euromanifesto Studies from 2009 and 2014, I will investigate the voters’ preferences and the parties’ policy positions and assess the degree of policy congruence between voters and their parties. Unlike many studies of issue congruence, which focus on correlations between party and voter positions, I will more generally analyze the determinants of party policy positions, by including into the same model voter preferences, party-level characteristics (e.g. government/opposition) and the economic context (macroeconomic indicators, including IMF loans).

Author

• Denise Traber, University of Zurich