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Political Responses to Economic Shocks
- Yotam Margalit1
- View Affiliations and Author NotesHide Affiliations and Author NotesDepartment of Political Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel; email:[email protected]
- Vol. 22:277-295(Volume publication date May 2019)
- First published as a Review in Advance onJanuary 23, 2019
- Copyright © 2019 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
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Yotam Margalit. 2019. Political Responses to Economic Shocks.Annual Review Political Science.22:277-295.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050517-110713
Abstract
How does the experience of economic shocks affect individuals' political views and voting behavior? Inspired partly by the fallout of the financial crisis of 2008, research on this question has proliferated. Findings from studies covering a broadening range of countries and economic contexts highlight several notable patterns. Economic shocks—e.g., job loss or sharp drop in income—exert a significant and theoretically predictable, if often transient, effect on political attitudes. In contrast, the effect on voting behavior is more limited in magnitude and its manifestations less understood. Negative economic shocks tend to increase support for more expansive social policy and for redistribution, strengthening the appeal of the left. But such shocks also tend to decrease trust in political institutions, thus potentially driving the voters to support radical or populist parties, or demobilizing them altogether. Further research is needed to detect the conditions that lead to these distinct voting outcomes.





