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Does Political Knowledge Increase Support For Europe?A Cross Country Investigation Investigation of the Attitudes of European Citizens

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  • Floriana Cerniglia
  • Laura Pagani

Abstract

We study the impact of political knowledge on the attitudes of European citizens towards the possible distribution of responsibilities between European level institutions and national governments in three policy areas: foreign policy, defence and immigration policy. The hypothesis tested is that if citizens are not knowledgeable about how the EU works, they are more likely to be wrong about the consequences of a mismatch in the allocation of competences. In order to identify the causal e¤ect of political knowledge on attitudes we use an instrumental variables approach. The results show that more informed citizens have a considerably higher probability of being in favour of the process of EU integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Floriana Cerniglia & Laura Pagani, 2010. "Does Political Knowledge Increase Support For Europe?A Cross Country Investigation Investigation of the Attitudes of European Citizens," Working Papers 198, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:mib:wpaper:198
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    European Union; Information; Attitudes; Political Economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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