Evelyne Hübscher publishes new paper in Comparative Political Studies

October 17, 2023
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DPP Associate Professor Evelyne Hübsches has published a co-authored paper in Comparaive Political Studies. The main question of the article is the following: how do voters judge IMF interventions?  Together with Thomas Sattler and Markus Wagner, she finds that voters often see IMF interventions more positively than generally assumed. Survey experiments conducted in four European crisis countries show that interventions by the IMF increase the public support for unpopular policies, such as fiscal adjustments. The finding that voters assess austerity more positively when the IMF is involved as opposed to cases where austerity is conducted without IMF involvement is related to voters' beliefs that the fiscal crisis will be solved more efficiently with the help of the IMF. At the same time, however, voters are also concerned and critical about the loss of national sovereignty such an intervention by an international organisation causes. On average, the belief in a more effective resolution of the crisis still dominates voter assessment. 

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