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Preferences for International Redistribution: The Divide Over the Eurozone Bailouts
Journal
American Journal of Political Science
ISSN
0092-5853
ISSN-Digital
1540-5907
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2014-10-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Why do voters agree to bear the costs of bailing out other countries? Despite the prominence of public opinion in the ongoing debate over the eurozone bailouts, voters' preferences on the topic are poorly understood. We conduct the first systematic analysis of this issue using observational and experimental survey data from Germany, the country shouldering the largest share of the EU's financial rescue fund. Testing a range of theoretical explanations, we find that individuals' own economic standing has limited explanatory power in accounting for their position on the bailouts. In contrast, social dispositions such as altruism and cosmopolitanism robustly correlate with support for the bailouts. The results indicate that the divide in public opinion over the bailouts is not drawn along distributive lines separating domestic winners and losers. Instead, the bailout debate is better understood as a foreign policy issue that pits economic nationalist sentiments versus greater cosmopolitan affinity and other-regarding concerns.
Project(s)
Language
English
Keywords
European Union
bailouts
public opinion
political behaviour
redistribution
political economy
financial rescues
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing
Publisher place
Oxford
Volume
2014
Number
58 (4)
Start page
835
End page
856
Pages
22
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
222425