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Who Wants Political Integration? Evidence from the Swedish EU-Membership Referendum

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  • Vlachos, Jonas

    (The Research Institute of Industrial Economics)

Abstract

The regional voting pattern of the Swedish EU-membership referendum is analyzed to determine voters' preferences over two fiscal regimes: an autonomous Sweden, or Sweden as part of the EU. A major difference between these regimes is that autonomy gives greater national discretion to handle risk-sharing and redistribution between regions. I find that inhabitants of rich and stable regions, with high levels of schooling, small receipts of central government transfers, and trade relations displaying comparative advantages towards the EU were relatively positive to membership. A plausible interpretation is thus that voters in safe and rich regions voted in favor of dismantling the Swedish transfer system.

Suggested Citation

  • Vlachos, Jonas, 2003. "Who Wants Political Integration? Evidence from the Swedish EU-Membership Referendum," Working Paper Series 594, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0594
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    Cited by:

    1. Doyle, Orla & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2006. "Who favors enlargement?: Determinants of support for EU membership in the candidate countries' referenda," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 520-543, June.
    2. Mwangi Kimenyi & William Shughart, 2010. "The political economy of constitutional choice: a study of the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-27, March.
    3. Doyle, Orla & Fidrmuc, Jan, 2004. "Who is in favor of enlargement? Determinants of support for EU membership in the candidate countries' referenda," ZEI Working Papers B 04-2004, University of Bonn, ZEI - Center for European Integration Studies.
    4. G Johnes, 2005. "Nations will fall? Revisiting the economic determinants of attitudes to European integration," Working Papers 566772, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    5. Mwangi S. Kimenyi, 2006. "The Demand for Power Diffusion: A Case Study of the 2005 Constitutional Referendum Voting in Kenya," Working papers 2006-11, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    6. repec:lan:wpaper:4816 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Pierre-Guillaume Meon, 2009. "Voting and turning out for monetary integration: the case of the French referendum on the Maastricht treaty," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(18), pages 2369-2384.
    8. repec:lan:wpaper:4512 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Chun-Fang Chiang & Jin-Tan Liu & Tsai-Wei Wen, 2019. "National identity under economic integration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 351-367, April.
    10. Mariassunta Giannetti & Andrei Simonov, 2009. "Social Interactions and Entrepreneurial Activity," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 665-709, September.
    11. Johannes Meya & Panu Poutvaara & Robert Schwager, 2015. "Pocketbook Voting and Social Preferences in Referenda," CESifo Working Paper Series 5267, CESifo.
    12. Lars Jonung, 2004. "The Political Economy of Monetary Unification: The Swedish Euro Referendum of 2003," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 24(1-2), pages 123-149, Spring/Su.
    13. repec:lan:wpaper:4384 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Andrew Austin, 2005. "Provincial Interests and Political Integration: Voting in the French Maastricht Referendum," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp281, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    15. Jonung, Lars, 2004. "To be or not to be in the euro? Benefits and costs of monetary unification as perceived by voters in the Swedish euro referendum 2003," MPRA Paper 1334, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. repec:lan:wpaper:4385 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Meya, Johannes & Poutvaara, Panu & Schwager, Robert, 2020. "Pocketbook voting, social preferences, and expressive motives in referenda," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 185-205.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political Integration; Secession; Regional Risk-Sharing; Regional Redistribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General

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