An Economic Analysis of Voting in Sweden

Using data from the Swedish Election Studies between 1985 and 1994 supplemented with time series on inflation and unemployment, I compare the impact of macro- and microeconomic variables on the individual vote. The principal finding is that microeconomic variables influence the vote almost as much as macroeconomic variables do. In consequence, both self-interest and public interest appears to be important explanations of economic voting in Sweden. Macroeconomic variables have, however, been much more influential in determining election outcomes. Since previous studies of economic voting have used cross-sectional data only, it is also worth noting that the panel estimates indicate a relatively greater impact of macroeconomic variables on the vote than the cross-sectional estimates do.