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Abstract
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Before
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.
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After
In 2011, the government of the United Kingdom introduced wide-ranging austerity policies to deal with high public debt in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Austerity lasted for a decade. The resulting cuts to government spending on public investment, services, and social protection, especially during the initial fiscal consolidation phase of 2011-2015, incurred significant welfare losses on the population. We provide evidence from observational microeconomic data and a large-scale online experiment in the UK which shows that exposure to welfare losses from austerity spurs political participation and increases citizens’ preferences for government redistribution. In particular, people express support for raising taxes on richer citizens to consolidate public debt, and for increasing welfare spending to cushion hardship for the vulnerable. Our experimental data further suggests that a change in individual preferences for redistribution might be one relevant channel through which austerity can affect political participation.
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Additional Keyword(s)
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Before
Political participation, public policy
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After
austerity, political participation, redistribution, expenditure cuts, welfare loss
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