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Do Dictatorships Affect People's Long Term Beliefs and Preferences? : An Empirical Assessment of the Latin American Case

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  • Matí­as Brum

    (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economí­a)

Abstract

Does the political regime experienced during youth have long lasting effects on political beliefs and preferences? I exploit time and country variation in political regimes in Latin America using data from the 1995 to 2010 Latinobarometer and find that exposure to non-democratic regimes during youth reduces subsequent preference for democracy, satisfaction with democracy and confidence in institutions. These results suggest exposure to dictatorships during formative years permanently eroded democratic values. Exposure to non-democratic regimes also aspects self-location in an ideology scale, reducing identification with the Right and increasing identification with the Left; which suggests dictatorships also shaped the political orientation of voters.

Suggested Citation

  • Matí­as Brum, 2018. "Do Dictatorships Affect People's Long Term Beliefs and Preferences? : An Empirical Assessment of the Latin American Case," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 18-18, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    • Handle: RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-18-18
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    File URL: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12008/20427
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    Cited by:

    1. María Angelica Bautista & Felipe González & Luis R. Martínez & Pablo Munoz & Mounu Prem, 2018. "The Geography of Repression and Support for Democracy: Evidence from the Pinochet Dictatorship," Documentos de Trabajo 17007, Universidad del Rosario.
    2. Gabriel Fuentes Cordoba, 2021. "Growing up in a civil war and political participation: Evidence from Guatemala," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(2), pages 197-225, April.
    3. Acemoglu, Daron & Ajzenman, Nicolas & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Fiszbein, Martin & Molina, Carlos, 2021. "(Successful) Democracies Breed Their Own Support," IZA Discussion Papers 14691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Federico Maggio & Dominic Rohner & Alessandro Saia, 2024. "The Democracy Dividend: ˗How Early Exposure to Democracy Shapes Health Outcomes˗," CESifo Working Paper Series 11307, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dictatorships; preference formation; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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