IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/wzbmtn/327899.html

Why the debt brake is a threat to democracy in Germany: The austerity mandate is increasing disillusionment with established political parties

Author

Listed:
  • Copelovitch, Mark
  • Ziblatt, Daniel

Abstract

It was a drumbeat: On November 15, 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court declared the second supplementary budget unconstitutional. The federal government had to significantly reschedule the budget, with a sudden shortfall of 60 billion euros. The court based its decision on the debt brake enshrined in the Basic Law. Mark Copelovitch and Daniel Ziblatt reflect in their analysis on the effect of these conditions. For them, the debt brake is not just an obstacle to economic development. Rather, they see it as a threat to democracy in Germany and Europe.

Suggested Citation

  • Copelovitch, Mark & Ziblatt, Daniel, 2024. "Why the debt brake is a threat to democracy in Germany: The austerity mandate is increasing disillusionment with established political parties," WZB-Mitteilungen: Quartalsheft für Sozialforschung, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, issue 183 (1/24.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbmtn:327899
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/327899/1/f-26092_repo.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thiemo Fetzer, 2019. "Did Austerity Cause Brexit?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(11), pages 3849-3886, November.
    2. John Ahlquist & Mark Copelovitch & Stefanie Walter, 2020. "The Political Consequences of External Economic Shocks: Evidence from Poland," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 904-920, October.
    3. Hübscher, Evelyne & Sattler, Thomas & Wagner, Markus, 2023. "Does Austerity Cause Polarization?," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(4), pages 1170-1188, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Copelovitch, Mark & Ziblatt, Daniel, 2024. "Wie die Schuldenbremse zur Bedrohung der Demokratie wird: Das Spardiktat verstärkt die Politikverdrossenheit gegenüber den etablierten Parteien," WZB-Mitteilungen: Quartalsheft für Sozialforschung, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, issue 183 (1/24.
    2. Fetzer, Thiemo & Edenhofer, Jacob & Garg, Prashant, 2025. "Local decline and populism," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    3. Robert Gold, 2022. "From a better understanding of the drivers of populism to a new political agenda," Working Papers 4, Forum New Economy.
    4. Alberto Alesina & Gabriele Ciminelli & Davide Furceri & Giorgio Saponaro, 2024. "Austerity and elections," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(363), pages 1075-1099, July.
    5. Giray Gozgor, 2022. "The role of economic uncertainty in the rise of EU populism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 229-246, January.
    6. Győző Gyöngyösi & Emil Verner, 2022. "Financial Crisis, Creditor‐Debtor Conflict, and Populism," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(4), pages 2471-2523, August.
    7. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile internet and the rise of political tribalism in Europe," CEP Discussion Papers dp1877, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Paczos, Wojtek & Sawulski, Jakub & Leśniewicz, Filip, 2023. "How much do public and private sectors invest in physical and human capital? Towards a new classification of investments," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1324-1336.
    9. Amory Gethin & Clara Martínez-Toledano & Thomas Piketty, 2022. "Brahmin Left Versus Merchant Right: Changing Political Cleavages in 21 Western Democracies, 1948–2020," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(1), pages 1-48.
    10. d'Este, Rocco, 2022. "Scientific Advancements in Illegal Drugs Production and Institutional Responses: New Psychoactive Substances, Self-Harm, and Violence inside Prisons," IZA Discussion Papers 15248, IZA Network @ LISER.
    11. Sebastian Doerr & Stefan Gissler & José-Luis Peydró & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2018. "From finance to fascism," Economics Working Papers 1651, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Nov 2020.
    12. Mueller, Hannes & Garcia-Uribe, Sandra & Sanz, Carlos, 2020. "Economic Uncertainty and Divisive Politics: Evidence from the "dos Españas"," CEPR Discussion Papers 15479, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Hachmi Ben Ameur & Waël Louhichi, 2022. "The Brexit impact on European market co-movements," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 313(2), pages 1387-1403, June.
    14. Annie Tubadji & Thomas Colwill & Don Webber, 2021. "Voting with your feet or voting for Brexit: The tale of those stuck behind," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 247-277, April.
    15. Doerr, Sebastian & Gissler, Stefan & Peydró, José-Luis & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2022. "Financial crises and political radicalization: How failing banks paved Hitler’s path to power," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 77(6), pages 3339-3372.
    16. Maria Abreu & Özge Öner, 2020. "Disentangling the Brexit vote: The role of economic, social and cultural contexts in explaining the UK’s EU referendum vote," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(7), pages 1434-1456, October.
    17. Chiara Cavaglia & Sandra McNally, 2025. "Young people, human capital investment and the Great Recession," CVER Research Papers 042, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    18. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Javier Terrero-Davila & Neil Lee, 2023. "Left-Behind vs. Unequal Places: Interpersonal Inequality, Economic Decline, and the Rise of Populism in the US and Europe," LIS Working papers 859, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    19. Eric Melander & Martina Miotto, 2023. "Welfare Cuts and Crime: Evidence from the New Poor Law," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(651), pages 1248-1264.
    20. Do, Hang & Duong, Kiet Tuan & Huynh, Luu Duc Toan & Vu, Nam T., 2025. "The Real effects of Brexit on labor demand: Evidence from firm-level data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbmtn:327899. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wzbbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.