To have or not to have: Effects of economic inequality on turnout in European democracies |
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| Institution: | 1. Harvard University, USA;2. Columbia University, USA;3. Yale University, USA;1. Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, 3440 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States;2. Center for Democracy Studies Aarau (ZDA), University of Zurich, Küttigerstrasse 21, 5000 Aarau, Switzerland;1. School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced, 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343, USA;2. Department of Political Science, Florida State University, 531 Bellamy Building, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2230, USA |
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| Abstract: | The effect of economic inequality on turnout has received considerable interest recently. Some studies suggest that inequality depresses turnout, others that the relationship is either the other way around or simply non-existent. Employing a large dataset with some 80,000 respondents from 30 European democracies, we show that great care is required when exploring inequality and turnout. On average, there is indeed a negative/positive effect of being below/above the median income in a country – but it is conditioned by inequality (measured as the Gini coefficient) and national wealth (measured as GDP per capita). Moreover, the two country-level factors interact in surprising ways. Based on our results we warn against claims of mono-causal relationships between the economic situation of voters and turnout. |
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| Keywords: | Turnout Vote abstention Inequality Gini coefficient GDP per capita European Social Survey |
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