Does Demography Determine Democratic Attitudes?

Arbeitspapier

This paper presents new evidence on how demography affects democratic attitudes in Western democracies. Using individual survey responses, the empirical analysis disentangles age from cohort patterns and other contemporaneous economic and political influences that shape democratic attitudes. The results reveal that support for democracy increases with age and is lower for more recent birth cohorts. These patterns are more pronounced in Western democracies than in the former Eastern bloc and in other countries around the world. Additional findings document that demography's effect partly captures heterogeneity in experiences with democracy, and that socioeconomic factors impact democratic attitudes.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Discussion Paper ; No. 338

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements ; Institutions and Growth ; Other Economic Systems: Political Economy; Legal Institutions; Property Rights; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Regional Studies
• Subject: support for democracy ; age-periods-cohort models ; population aging ; demographic composition ; stability of democracy ; modernization hypothesis

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Kotschy, Rainer ; Sunde, Uwe
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition
• (where): München und Berlin
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/282030
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET