TY  - JOUR
AU  - Brunner,Eric J.
AU  - Ross,Stephen L.
AU  - Washington,Ebonya L.
TI  - Economics and Ideology:  Causal Evidence of the Impact of Economic Conditions on Support for Redistribution and Other Ballot Proposals
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14091
PY  - 2008
Y2  - June 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14091
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14091.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Eric J. Brunner
Quinnipiac University
Department of Economics
275 Mount Carmel Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
E-Mail: Eric.Brunner@quinnipiac.edu

Stephen Ross
University of Connecticut
Department of Economics
341 Mansfield Road, Unit 1063
Storrs, CT  06269-1063
E-Mail: stephen.l.ross@uconn.edu

Ebonya L. Washington
Yale University
Box 8264
37 Hillhouse, Room 36
New Haven, CT 06520
Tel: 203/432-9901
Fax: 203/432-6323
E-Mail: ebonya.washington@yale.edu
AB  - Using California ballot proposition returns and exogenous shifts to labor demand, we provide the first large-scale causal evidence of the impact of economic conditions on policy preferences. Consistent with economic theory, we find that positive economic shocks decrease support for redistributive policies. More notably, we find evidence of a need for cognitive consistency in voting behavior as economic shocks have a smaller significant impact on voting on non-economic ballot issues. While we also demonstrate that positive shocks decrease turnout, we present evidence that our results reflect changes to the electorate’s preferences and not simply to its composition.
ER  -