Impact of Distributive Fairness on Regime Support: Evidence from East Asia

• In Event: Political Economy of East Asia

Abstract

How does distributive fairness shape individuals’ support of the current political regime? Does the effect of distributive fairness on public support of the political regime vary with the type of regime? Using data collected from the fourth wave of Asian Barometer Survey (2014-2016), we find that distributive fairness increases regime support in East Asian countries. Moreover, this effect is larger in autocracies than in democracies. To explain this, we examine two possible mechanisms through which distributive fairness enhances regime support: changes of political values and redistributive demands. Employing a causal mediation analysis, we find that political value orientation plays a greater mediating role than redistributive demand. Moreover, distributive fairness is more beneficial to regime support in autocracies than in democracies due to its larger impacts on citizens’ affective identification with authoritarian values that underpin regime support in autocracies. Our study highlights the role of political value orientation in shaping regime support and sheds light on the vulnerability of autocracies to issues of income distribution.

Authors

• Xian Huang, Rutgers University

• Cai (Vera) Zuo, Fudan University