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Passing the partisan filter: Political narratives, partisan bias and opinions on public finances

Author

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  • Ekatarina Juergens

    (Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK))

  • Sebastian Gechert

    (Chemnitz University of Technologie)

Abstract

This paper investigates whether political partisanship and political narratives affect voters’ opinions about public finances. In a novel survey experiment, we test the causal effect of pro-consolidation and pro-public investment narratives used in German general election campaigns on participants’ opinions on public debt and how to deal with budget deficits. We do not find a relevant average treatment effect of these narratives. However, they partly interact with political party preferences, which are a dominant covariate for opinions on public finances. We interpret our findings as a conjunction of narrative economics theory and the partisan bias literature, by which only emotionally charged narratives pass the partisan filter.

Suggested Citation

  • Ekatarina Juergens & Sebastian Gechert, 2025. "Passing the partisan filter: Political narratives, partisan bias and opinions on public finances," IMK Working Paper 227-2025, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:imk:wpaper:227-2025
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    JEL classification:

    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt

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