Abstract
In the UK, the age of austerity, precipitated by the Great Recession of 2008 and subsequent installation of the first post-Blair governments, is a politically, economically, and socially defining era that continues to influence household welfare, as well as politics to this day. In comparison to other European countries, the UK has implemented stricter and more sustained austerity measures, particularly when it comes to reducing government spending. Among other things, these spending cuts have triggered civil protests across cities in the UK. Research in economics has started to explore the distributional consequences of austerity-related welfare cuts and its impact especially on poorer households in the UK. Further work has been investigating the role that austerity played in increasing the chance that an electoral district would vote Leave in the 2016 EU referendum, and hence support the Brexit. While the age of austerity had been declared dead in many countries, the expansion of social welfare spending during the COVID-19 pandemic both in the UK and around the world has led many to question whether this increase in spending will usher in a new age of austerity post-COVID. We want to better understand whether and how austerity policies may affect political participation in the UK. We will conduct an online experiment to study the link between austerity policies and citizens' preferences for redistribution and political participation.