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Individual Life Horizon Influences Attitudes Toward Democracy

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  • LECHLER, MARIE
  • SUNDE, UWE

Abstract

Support for democracy in the population is considered critical for the emergence and stability of democracy. Macro-determinants and retrospective experiences have been shown to affect the support for democracy at the individual level. We investigate whether and how the individual life horizon, in terms of the prospective length of life and age, affects individual attitudes toward democracy. Combining information from period life tables with individual survey response data spanning more than 260,000 observations from 93 countries over the period 1994–2014, we find evidence that the expected remaining years of life influence the attitudes toward a democratic political regime. The statistical identification decomposes the influence of age from the influence of the expected proximity to death. The evidence shows that support for democracy increases with age but declines with expected proximity to death, implying that increasing longevity might help fostering the support for democracy. Increasing age while keeping the remaining years of life fixed as well as increasing remaining years of life for a given age group both contribute to the support for democracy.

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  • Lechler, Marie & Sunde, Uwe, 2019. "Individual Life Horizon Influences Attitudes Toward Democracy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 113(3), pages 860-867, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:113:y:2019:i:3:p:860-867_16
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    1. Berlanda, Andrea & Cervellati, Matteo & Esposito, Elena & Rohner, Dominic & Sunde, Uwe, 2024. "Medication against conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    2. Rainer Franz Kotschy & Uwe Sunde, 2022. "Does Demography Determine Democratic Attitudes?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9535, CESifo.
    3. Marie Lechler & Uwe Sunde, 2020. "Aging, Proximity to Death, and Religiosity," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(4), pages 735-755, December.
    4. Kai-Ping Huang, 2023. "Support for Democracy in the Age of Rising Inequality and Population Aging," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 166(1), pages 27-51, February.
    5. Sunde, Uwe, 2023. "Age, longevity, and preferences," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).

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