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The Impact of Economic Perceptions on Voting Behaviour in European Parliamentary Elections

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  • Monika Bartkowska
  • Guido Tiemann

Abstract

Economic voting is a key explanatory factor for the short-term variation of vote choice, party competition and electoral volatility. This article applies the well-established literature on economic voting to the analysis of European Parliament elections. In theoretical terms, it focuses on a forward-looking selection model and probes the difficulties of signal extraction in the multilevel context of European Union politics. In methodological terms, hierarchical mixed logit models are used so as to explore the magnitude and the determinants of economic voting in the 2004 and the subsequent 2009 EP elections. Although the EU has acquired significant economic policy domains from the Member States, and therewith effectively blurring political responsibility for economic policies, this analysis demonstrates that voters are nevertheless able to extract competence signals and cast an economic vote. The article also focuses on the conditionality of the economic vote and vote abstention in EP elections.

Suggested Citation

  • Monika Bartkowska & Guido Tiemann, 2015. "The Impact of Economic Perceptions on Voting Behaviour in European Parliamentary Elections," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 201-217, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:53:y:2015:i:2:p:201-217
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/jcms.12158
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Esben Hogh & Martin Vinæs Larsen, 2016. "Can Information Increase Turnout in European Parliament Elections? Evidence from a Quasi-experiment in Denmark," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(6), pages 1495-1508, November.
    2. Pinar Deniz & Burhan Can Karahasan & Mehmet Pinar, 2021. "Determinants of regional distribution of AKP votes: Analysis of post‐2002 parliamentary elections," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 323-352, April.
    3. Elisa Cencig & Laura Sabani, 2017. "Voting Behaviour in the European Parliament and Economic Governance Reform: Does Nationality Matter?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 28(5), pages 967-987, November.

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