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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01gb19f593d
Title: Identity and Interests: Voter heuristics and support for redistributive policies
Authors: Donnelly, Michael J.
Advisors: Pop-Eleches, Grigore
Contributors: Politics Department
Keywords: Ethnicity
Political Behavior
Redistribution
Region
Subjects: Political Science
Issue Date: 2013
Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University
Abstract: This dissertation argues that identity is often used in the political world as a heuristic for predicting one's own future income. This use of group incomes as a heuristic for personal interest leads to a close connection between group identities and support for redistributive policies. Whether such policies have positive or negative effects on an individual's material well-being depends on that person's future income, so members of richer groups - who, all else equal, have higher future incomes - are less supportive of redistributive policies. The dissertation then goes on to test this argument in four distinct contexts, each focused on ethnic and regional identities. First, it shows that this heuristic theory is consistent with survey results in a global sample. Next, it shows a similar level of consistency with results from European surveys. It then focuses on the United Kingdom, examining regional and ethnic identities using both panel data and a survey experiment. Finally, it uses surveys in Slovakia and the Czech Republic to provide further support for heuristic theory.
URI: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01gb19f593d
Alternate format: The Mudd Manuscript Library retains one bound copy of each dissertation. Search for these copies in the library's main catalog
Type of Material: Academic dissertations (Ph.D.)
Language: en
Appears in Collections:Politics

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