IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/statpp/v7y2016i1-2p3-28n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-Interest or Solidarity?

Author

Listed:
  • Mueller Sean
  • Vatter Adrian
  • Schmid Charlie

    (University of Berne – Institute of Political Science, Fabrikstrasse 8, Berne 3012, Switzerland)

Abstract

This article puts the self-interest hypothesis to an empirical test by analysing the 2004 referendum on fiscal equalisation in Switzerland. That vote put forth a series of reforms which created regional winners and loser in terms of having to pay or receiving unconditional funding. Although Switzerland is usually portrayed as a paradigmatic case in terms of inter-regional solidarity and national integration, we show that rational and selfish cost-benefit calculations strongly mattered for the end-result. We rely on a multi-level model with referendum and other data on more than 2700 municipalities and all 26 cantons. More broadly, our findings confirm that rational choice theory works well for voting on straightforward monetary issues with a clearly defined group of winners and losers. However, symbolic interests such as party strength and cultural predispositions against state intervention and in favour of subsidiarity also matter and need to be taken into account alongside.

Suggested Citation

  • Mueller Sean & Vatter Adrian & Schmid Charlie, 2016. "Self-Interest or Solidarity?," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1-2), pages 3-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:statpp:v:7:y:2016:i:1-2:p:3-28:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/spp-2016-0003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/spp-2016-0003
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/spp-2016-0003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Béland, Daniel & Lecours, André, 2014. "Fiscal federalism and American exceptionalism: why is there no federal equalisation system in the United States?," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 303-329, August.
    2. Beramendi,Pablo, 2012. "The Political Geography of Inequality," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107008137.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesc Amat & Pablo Beramendi & Miriam Hortas-Rico & Vicente Rios, 2020. "How inequality shapes political participation: The role of spatial patterns of political competition," Working Papers. Collection B: Regional and sectoral economics 2002, Universidade de Vigo, GEN - Governance and Economics research Network.
    2. Marta Arretche & Rogerio Schlegel & Diogo Ferrari, 2016. "Preferences Regarding the Vertical Distribution of Authority in Brazil: On Measurement and Determinants," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 46(1), pages 77-102.
    3. Giorgio Brosio, 2017. "Equalization transfers and convergence between federal and unitary systems: A contribution to their historical analysis," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(3), pages 21-66.
    4. Pier Domenico Tortola, 2014. "The Limits of Normalization: Taking Stock of the EU‐US Comparative Literature," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(6), pages 1342-1357, November.
    5. Walter Cont & Alberto Porto, 2016. "Fiscal Policy and Income Distribution: Measurement for Argentina 1995 ¨C 2010," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 6, pages 75-92, May.
    6. Santiago Lago-Peñas & Albino Prada & Alberto Vaquero, 2015. "On the size and determinants of inter-regional redistribution in European countries over the period 1995–2009," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 845-864, November.
    7. Dominik Schraff, 2020. "Is the Member States' Curse the EU's Blessing? Inequality and EU Regime Evaluation," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1215-1234, September.
    8. Tiffany H. Morrison & W. Neil Adger & Katrina Brown & Maria Carmen Lemos & Dave Huitema & Terry P. Hughes, 2017. "Mitigation and adaptation in polycentric systems: sources of power in the pursuit of collective goals," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(5), September.
    9. Clayton,Amanda & Noveck,Jennifer Lynn & Levi,Margaret, 2015. "When elites meet : decentralization, power-sharing, and public goods provision in post-conflict Sierra Leone," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7335, The World Bank.
    10. Huo, Jingjing, 2015. "How Nations Innovate: The Political Economy of Technological Innovation in Affluent Capitalist Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198735847.
    11. Holm, Joshua, 2016. "A model of redistribution under social identification in heterogeneous federations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 39-48.
    12. Claire Dunn, 2022. "Subnational Politics and Redistribution in a Federal System: Determinants of Progressive Social Spending in Brazilian States," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 52(2), pages 283-309.
    13. Sambanis, Nicholas & Nikolova, Elena & Schultz, Anna, 2022. "The effects of economic austerity on pro-sociality: Evidence from Greece," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1144, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Louise Tillin, 2021. "Building a National Economy: Origins of Centralized Federalism in India," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 51(2), pages 161-185.
    15. Giorgio Brosio, 2017. "Equalization transfers and convergence between federal and unitary systems: a contribution to their historical analysis," Working papers 61, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    16. Fischer, Georg, 2017. "The US Unemployment Insurance, a Federal-State Partnership: Relevance for Reflections at the European Level," IZA Policy Papers 129, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Pablo Beramendi & Melissa Rogers, 2021. "Disparate geography and the origins of tax capacity," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 213-237, January.
    18. Søren Frank Etzerodt & Niels Jørgen Mau Pedersen, 2024. "Formula-based Grants as Pork Barrel Politics: Targetability and the Political-strategic Use of Grants," Munich Papers in Political Economy 34, Munich School of Politics and Public Policy and the School of Management at the Technical University of Munich.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:statpp:v:7:y:2016:i:1-2:p:3-28:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.