Voters and the IMF: Experimental Evidence from European Crisis Countries
- Author(s)
- Evelyne Hübscher, Thomas Sattler, Markus Wagner
- Abstract
IMF interventions are often associated with rising political discontent in
countries where the Fund intervenes. Studies examining this relationship,
however, face the challenge of disentangling the impact of the IMF from the
impact of the crisis that triggered the intervention. To address this challenge,
we conduct survey experiments in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain and
directly assess how voters evaluate the costs and benefits of an IMF intervention. We find that voters believe that the crisis will more likely be solved
when the IMF intervenes, but they are also critical of the corresponding loss of
national sovereignty. Because the former consideration, on average, dominates their assessment, IMF interventions increase the support of voters for
unpopular economic policies. Nonetheless, cross-country differences suggest
that continued public support for intervention hinges on the IMF’s ability to
deliver on its promise to help resolve the crisis.- Organisation(s)
- Department of Government
- External organisation(s)
- Université de Genève, Central European University Vienna
- Journal
- Comparative Political Studies
- Volume
- 57
- Pages
- 1870-1901
- No. of pages
- 32
- ISSN
- 0010-4140
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140231204229
- Publication date
- 09-2024
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 506014 Comparative politics
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/ac4385a2-4786-4750-b068-b9ef7a4393e5