Did Growth and Reforms Increase Citizens’ Support for the Transition?

Quaderni DSE Working Paper No. 771

42 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2011

See all articles by Roberto Golinelli

Roberto Golinelli

University of Bologna - Department of Economics

Riccardo Rovelli

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: July 11, 2011

Abstract

How did post-communist transformations affect people’s perceptions of their economic and political systems? We model a pseudo-panel with 89 country-year clusters, based on 13 countries observed between 1991 and 2004, to identify the macro and institutional drivers of the public opinion. Our main findings are: (i) When the economy is growing, on average people appreciate more extensive reforms; they dislike unbalanced reforms. (ii) Worsening of income distribution and higher inflation interact with an increasing share of the private sector in aggravating nostalgia for the past regime. (iii) Cross-country differences in the attitudes towards the present and future (both in the economic and political dimensions) are largely explained by differences in the institutional indicators for the rule of law and corruption. (iv) Cross-country differences in the extent of nostalgia towards the past are mainly related to differences in the deterioration of standards of living.

Keywords: Political economy, Post-Communist transition,Economic reforms, Economic performance, Support for reforms, Public opinion

JEL Classification: O11, O57, P2, P36, P52

Suggested Citation

Golinelli, Roberto and Rovelli, Riccardo, Did Growth and Reforms Increase Citizens’ Support for the Transition? (July 11, 2011). Quaderni DSE Working Paper No. 771, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1883391 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1883391

Roberto Golinelli (Contact Author)

University of Bologna - Department of Economics ( email )

Strada Maggiore 45
Bologna, 40125
Italy
+39 051 209 2638 (Phone)
+39 051 209 2664 (Fax)

Riccardo Rovelli

Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna ( email )

Bologna
Italy

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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