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on Collective Decision-Making |
| By: | Engelmann, Dirk (HU Berlin); Janeba, Eckhard (University of Mannheim); Mechtenberg, Lydia (University of Hamburg); Wehrhafter, Nils (Deutsche Bundesbank) |
| Abstract: | Mobility of high-income individuals across borders puts pressure on governments to lower taxes. A central tenet of the corresponding textbook argument is that mobile individuals react to tax differentials through migration, and in turn immobile individuals vote for lower taxes. We investigate to which extent this argument is complete. In particular, political ideology may influence voting on taxes. We vary mobility and foreign taxes in a survey experiment within the German Internet Panel (GIP), with more than 3,000 individuals participating. We find that while the treatment effects qualitatively confirm model predictions how voters take mobility of high-income earners into account when choosing domestic taxes, ideology matters: left-leaning high-income individuals choose higher taxes and emigrate less frequently than right-leaning ones. These findings are in line with the comparative- static predictions of a simple model of inequality aversion when the aversion parameters vary with ideology. |
| Keywords: | taxation; mobility; ideology; survey experiments; |
| JEL: | D72 F22 H21 |
| Date: | 2021–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:284&r= |
| By: | Bayerlein, Michael |
| Abstract: | A widely held view is that increasing globalisation and inequality are fostering support for populist actors. Surprisingly, when focusing on Germany and the U.S., populist voting is highest in less globalised regions with rather equal income distributions. Addressing this puzzle, I ask how the regional variance in populist voting can be explained. In my answer, I introduce the concept of spatial inequality, which describes the regional inequality within countries, and construct a measure of public goods scarcity. I argue that the spatial inequality induced feeling of being left behind is positively correlated with populist voting and that this effect is mitigated by public goods provision. Using county level data to develop spatial inequality and public good scarcity indices, I can provide empirical support for these arguments. The findings have important implications for understanding the sub-national variance in populist voting and the role of relative economic deprivation as well as public goods provision. |
| Keywords: | Populism,Voting Behaviour,Inequality,Public Goods,Regional Economics |
| JEL: | D31 D63 D72 H41 R11 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2231&r= |
| By: | Wayne Aaron Sandholtz |
| Abstract: | Public service reform often entails broad benefits for society and concentrated costs for interest groups. Do the electoral benefits outweigh the costs for politicians who implement reform? This paper examines the electoral effects of a randomized Liberian school reform which increased student learning but antagonized teachers. The policy reduced ruling party vote share by 3 percentage points (10%). It also reduced teachers’ job satisfaction by 0.18s and political involvement by 0.22s. I use the evaluation’s pairwise randomization to show that the effect on vote share was positively correlated with student learning, and negatively correlated with teacher political disengagement. |
| Keywords: | Electoral returns, Policy feedback, Public service delivery, Policy experimentation, Education, Political economy, Elections, Randomized controlled trial, Liberia, Information |
| JEL: | O10 C93 D72 P16 H41 I25 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp2202&r= |
| By: | Simone Moriconi; Giovanni Peri; Riccardo Turati |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether second generation immigrants have different political preferences relative to observationally identical host country’s citizens. Using data on individual voting behavior in 22 European countries between 2001 and 2017 we characterize each vote on a left-right scale using ideological and policy position of the party from the Manifesto Project Database. In the first part of the paper we characterize the size of the "left-bias" in the vote of second generation immigrants, after controlling for a large set of individual characteristics and origin and destination country unobservable factors. We find a significant left-bias of second generation migrants relative to observationally identical natives, similar in magnitude to the association between left-bias and secondary education, or living in urban areas. We then show that this left-bias associates with stronger preferences for government intervention to reduce economic inequality, and for internationalism and multiculturalism. |
| Keywords: | immigration, elections, Europe |
| JEL: | D72 J61 P16 Z10 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9859&r= |