TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Marx, Paul
AU  - Schumacher, Gijs
        TI  - The Effect of Economic Change and Elite Framing on Economic Preferences: A Survey Experiment
        PY  - 2014/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 7979
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp7979
        AB  - An unresolved question in political science is how economic downturns affect citizens' economic left-right preferences. Existing observational studies fail to isolate the effect of economic conditions and the effect of elite framing of these conditions. We therefore designed a survey experiment to evaluate how economic change in conjunction with different elite frames impact on citizens' preferences for economic policies. We hypothesise and demonstrate that the effects of these frames differ by income group and partisanship. Our survey experiment – carried out in the UK – demonstrates that poor economic prospects motivate support for unemployment benefits vis-à-vis deficit reduction. Emphasis on government debt and deficits increases support for the latter policy option. Also, we find support for the hypothesis that partisans are less responsive to the economy than independents.
        KW  - economic preferences
KW  - economic crises
KW  - elite framing
KW  - survey experiment
KW  - UK
        ER  -