171017 - From Preferences to Voting: Redistribution and Left Parties in Industrialized Democracies

Date: 
17 October, 2017 - 12:30 - 14:30

 

SGCEE "From Preferences to Voting: Redistribution and Left Parties in Industrialized Democracies?"

 Tuesday 17 October  2017, 12.30 - 2.30 pm, Sciences Po, Room Goguel, 56, rue des Saints-Pères (Entrance through the 27 rue Saint-Guillaume), 75007 Paris

While a significant literature in political economy has recently focused on the relationship between income and risk, on the one hand, and redistribution preferences, on the other, it is unclear whether these preferences have any influence over political behavior. In this paper we argue that redistribution preferences are indeed a most significant determinant of voting. We test our theoretical claims with data from Western Europe and the US and show that voting for redistributive parties is highly dependent on individual levels of demand for redistribution. The poor (and, to a lesser degree, those exposed to more risk) are more supportive of redistribution and, we contend, these redistribution preferences make them more likely to vote for redistributive parties. Our analysis goes beyond previous research by explicitly studying this preference mechanism in a potential-outcomes framework. We disentangle the direct and indirect effects of income and risk (as well as other factors) to obtain estimates of their effects on voting through preferences.

Speaker

David Rueda, Department of Politics and Nuffield College, Oxford University, Visiting Professor of Comparative Politics at Sciences Po, CEE
David Rueda is the author of Social Democracy Inside Out (Oxford University Press, 2007) and his articles have appeared in the Annual Review of Political Science, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Quarterly Journal of Political Science, and World Politics. He has received numerous research awards, including a British Academy Research Development Award (2008-2010).
His current research focuses on the causes and consequences of inequality, the determinants of redistribution preferences, the role of the welfare state in times of crisis, and insider-outsider politics.

Discussion

Emiliano Grossman, Sciences Po, CEE
Florence Nocca, Sciences Po, CEE

 

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Contact: tiago.moreiraramalho@sciencespo.fr

 

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