Voters and the IMF: Experimental Evidence From European Crisis Countries

Evelyne Hübscher, Thomas Sattler*, Markus Wagner

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

IMF interventions are often associated with rising political discontent in countries where the Fund intervenes. Studies examining this relationship, however, face the challenge of disentangling the impact of the IMF from the impact of the crisis that triggered the intervention. To address this challenge, we conduct survey experiments in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain and directly assess how voters evaluate the costs and benefits of an IMF intervention. We find that voters believe that the crisis will more likely be solved when the IMF intervenes, but they are also critical of the corresponding loss of national sovereignty. Because the former consideration, on average, dominates their assessment, IMF interventions increase the support of voters for unpopular economic policies. Nonetheless, cross-country differences suggest that continued public support for intervention hinges on the IMF’s ability to deliver on its promise to help resolve the crisis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1870-1901
Number of pages32
JournalComparative Political Studies
Volume57
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 13 Oct 2023

Keywords

  • conditionality
  • credibility
  • fiscal austerity
  • international organizations
  • public opinion
  • sovereignty

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Voters and the IMF: Experimental Evidence From European Crisis Countries'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this