IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eeupol/v10y2009i3p361-379.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Macroeconomic Factors Conditioning the Impact of Identity on Attitudes towards the EU

Author

Listed:
  • John Garry

    (Queen's University Belfast, UK, j.garry@qub.ac.uk)

  • James Tilley

    (University of Oxford, UK, james.tilley@politics.ox.ac.uk)

Abstract

Factors relating to identity and to economics have been shown to be important predictors of attitudes towards the European Union (EU). In this article, we show that the impact of identity is conditional on economic context. First, living in a member state that receives relatively high levels of EU funding acts as a ‘buffer’, diluting the impact of an exclusive national identity on Euroscepticism. Second, living in a relatively wealthy member state, with its associated attractiveness for economic migrants, increases the salience of economic xenophobia as a driver of sceptical attitudes. These results highlight the importance of seeing theories of attitude formation (such as economic and identity theories) not as competitors but rather as complementary, with the predictive strength of one theoretical approach (identity) being a function of system-level variation in factors relating to the other theoretical approach (macro-level economic conditions).

Suggested Citation

  • John Garry & James Tilley, 2009. "The Macroeconomic Factors Conditioning the Impact of Identity on Attitudes towards the EU," European Union Politics, , vol. 10(3), pages 361-379, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:10:y:2009:i:3:p:361-379
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116509337829
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1465116509337829
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1465116509337829?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank, 2006. "World Development Indicators 2006," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8151.
    2. Anetta Caplanova & Marta Orviska & John Hudson, 2004. "Eastern European Attitudes to Integration with Western Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 271-288, June.
    3. Eichenberg, Richard C. & Dalton, Russell J., 1993. "Europeans and the European Community: the dynamics of public support for European integration," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(4), pages 507-534, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Margarete Scherer, 2015. "The Religious Context in Explaining Public Support for the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 893-909, July.
    2. Dolls, Mathias, 2024. "An unemployment re-insurance scheme for the eurozone? Stabilizing and redistributive effects," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Dirk Leuffen & Thomas Malang & Sebastian Wörle, 2014. "Structure, Capacity or Power? Explaining Salience in EU Decision-Making," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 616-631, May.
    4. Lechler, Marie, 2018. "Employment Shocks and anti-EU Sentiment," Discussion Papers in Economics 49414, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    5. Sarah Ciaglia & Clemens Fuest & Friedrich Heinemann, 2018. "What a feeling?! How to promote ‘European Identity’," EconPol Policy Reports 9, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Hobolt, Sara B. & Wratil, Christopher, 2015. "Public opinion and the crisis: the dynamics of support for the euro," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60788, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Monika Bartkowska & Guido Tiemann, 2015. "The Impact of Economic Perceptions on Voting Behaviour in European Parliamentary Elections," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 201-217, March.
    8. Lechler, Marie, 2019. "Employment shocks and anti-EU sentiment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 266-295.

    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. Ivlevs, Artjoms & King, Roswitha M., 2019. "To Europe or Not to Europe? Migration and Public Support for Joining the European Union in the Western Balkans," IZA Discussion Papers 12254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Toni Babarović & Lidija Burušić & Josip Burušić, 2011. "Who are the Supporters of Croatian Membership in the European Union and NATO? Predictive Value of Personal and National Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 71-80, May.
    3. Thomas Christin, 2005. "Economic and Political Basis of Attitudes towards the EU in Central and East European Countries in the 1990s," European Union Politics, , vol. 6(1), pages 29-57, March.
    4. Nasreen, Samia & Anwar, Sofia & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2017. "Financial stability, energy consumption and environmental quality: Evidence from South Asian economies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1105-1122.
    5. Russell S. Sobel & Nabamita Dutta & Sanjukta Roy, 2010. "Beyond Borders: Is Media Freedom Contagious?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 133-143, February.
    6. Julian Aichholzer & Sylvia Kritzinger & Carolina Plescia, 2021. "National identity profiles and support for the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(2), pages 293-315, June.
    7. Marcel Lubbers & Eva Jaspers, 2011. "A longitudinal study of euroscepticism in the Netherlands: 2008 versus 1990," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(1), pages 21-40, March.
    8. Daniele, Gianmarco & Geys, Benny, 2012. "Public support for institutionalised solidarity: Europeans' reaction to the establishment of eurobonds," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2012-112, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    9. Harald Schoen, 2008. "Identity, Instrumental Self-Interest and Institutional Evaluations," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(1), pages 5-29, March.
    10. Soetkin Verhaegen & Marc Hooghe & Ellen Quintelier, 2014. "European Identity and Support for European Integration: A Matter of Perceived Economic Benefits?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 295-314, May.
    11. Aleksynska, Mariya & Tritah, Ahmed, 2013. "Occupation–education mismatch of immigrant workers in Europe: Context and policies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 229-244.
    12. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    13. Bourdon, Jean & Frölich, Markus & Michaelowa, Katharina, 2007. "Teacher Shortages, Teacher Contracts and their Impact on Education in Africa," IZA Discussion Papers 2844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Abdulqadir, Idris A. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "The asymmetric effect of internet access on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 44-61.
    15. Kristel Jacquier, 2015. "Public support for the economic governance of the euro zone: empirical evidence from the debt crisis," Post-Print halshs-01222511, HAL.
    16. Matthew Loveless, 2010. "Agreeing in Principle: Utilitarianism and Economic Values as Support for the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 1083-1106, September.
    17. Lefèvre, Nicolas, 2010. "Measuring the energy security implications of fossil fuel resource concentration," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1635-1644, April.
    18. Aneel Karnani, 2009. "The Bottom of the Pyramid Strategy for Reducing Poverty: A Failed Promise," Working Papers 80, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    19. António Afonso & João Tovar Jalles & Ana Venâncio, 2021. "Structural Tax Reforms and Public Spending Efficiency," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(5), pages 1017-1061, November.
    20. Julia Bachtrögler-Unger & Harald Oberhofer, 2018. "Euroscepticism and EU Cohesion Policy: The Impact of Micro-Level Policy Effectiveness on Voting Behaviour," WIFO Working Papers 567, WIFO.

    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:sae:eeupol:v:10:y:2009:i:3:p:361-379. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.