Economic Voting Behavior and the Political Right-Wing (Empirical Evidence from the Slovak Republic)
Economic Voting Behavior and the Political Right-Wing (Empirical Evidence from the Slovak Republic)

Summary/Abstract: This paper evaluates the differences in the degree to which the preferences of the Slovak right-wing and left-wing parties are affected by the development of consumer prices and unemployment. Using the linear regression approach, it provides evidence that Slovak left-wing voters are resistant to economic voting, which is demonstrated by the fact that changes in the preferences of the Slovak left-wing government during 2006 – 2008 did not react to changes in the CPI and the unemployment rate. By contrast, the Slovak right-wing is held accountable by its voters both for rising prices and unemployment. Thus, our research unveils a new, unexpected difference between left- and right-wing voters. Furthermore, it is argued that, under constantly decreasing monetary and fiscal sovereignty in EU member states, political parties that have voters highly re-sponsive to economic conditions are in a disadvantage as their preferences are dependent on factors they can influence less than in the past.

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