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Attitudes towards Euro Area Reforms: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment

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  • Mathias Dolls
  • Nils Wehrhöfer

Abstract

We present the first evidence on public attitudes towards two prominent euro area reform proposals (European Unemployment Benefit Scheme and Sovereign Insolvency Procedure) and assess potential impediments to their implementation by means of a randomized survey experiment in Germany. We find that there is a low willingness among German voters to accept fiscal risk-sharing through common unemployment insurance, while a sovereign insolvency procedure aimed at strengthening market discipline is supported by a majority of the electorate. Our randomized treatments confronting survey participants with potential adverse effects of the reforms lead to significant downward shifts in approval rates. Altruism, cosmopolitanism, political preferences and income are important predictors of support for the reform proposals. We also show that there is a striking contrast between the low level of support for transfers to other euro area member states and a broad acceptance of inner German transfers.

Suggested Citation

  • Mathias Dolls & Nils Wehrhöfer, 2018. "Attitudes towards Euro Area Reforms: Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7141, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7141
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernd Hayo & Florian Neumeier, 2023. "Between fearmongers and Samaritans: Does information provision affect attitudes towards the right of asylum in Germany?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(4), pages 749-777, November.
    2. Blesse, Sebastian & Buhlmann, Florian & Doerrenberg, Philipp, 2019. "Do people really want a simple tax system? Evidence on preferences towards income tax simplification," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-058, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Lindner, Vincent & Eckert, Sandra & Nölke, Andreas, 2022. "Political science research on the reasons for the (non) adoption and (non) implementation of EMU reform proposals: The state of the art," SAFE Working Paper Series 339, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    4. Johannes Blum & Anna Dudel & Björn Kauder & Manuela Krause & Niklas Potrafke, 2019. "Reformvorschläge zur Eurozone – eine gemeinsame europäische Arbeitslosenversicherung als Lösung?," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 72(02), pages 55-61, January.
    5. Grewenig, Elisabeth & Lergetporer, Philipp & Simon, Lisa & Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2023. "Can internet surveys represent the entire population? A practitioners’ analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Brian Burgoon & Theresa Kuhn & Francesco Nicoli & Frank Vandenbroucke, 2022. "Unemployment risk-sharing in the EU: How policy design influences citizen support for European unemployment policy," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 282-308, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    public attitudes; euro area reforms; European unemployment insurance; sovereign insolvency procedure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance

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