Màster - Institucions i Economia Política / Institutions and Political Economy (IPE)

URI permanent per a aquesta col·leccióhttps://diposit.ub.edu/handle/2445/215116

Treballs Finals del Màster en Institucions i Economia Política / Institutions and Political Economy de la Facultat d'Economia i Empresa de la Universitat de Barcelona.

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Mostrant 1 - 9 de 9

Rent and resentment: The effect of rental burden on populist radical right support
(2024) Grosse-Kohorst, Karla; Falcó Gimeno, Albert
How does rental burden influence support for populist radical right parties? Existing theories suggest cultural and economic factors drive support for the populist radical right, but they often overlook the specific impact of housing costs. This thesis investigates the role of rental burden by analysing Germany’s Mietpreisbremse policy using a Two-Way Fixed Effects regression and a Difference-in-Difference estimation on aggregate and micro-level data from 2013 to 2021. Findings indicate that a decrease in rental burden leads to reduced support for the populist radical right, specifically the AfD. This effect is driven by status anxiety and geotropic effects. Results suggest that affordable housing policies can mitigate political discontent and reduce the appeal of populist radical right parties.
Ripple effects of economic crisis. The influence of economic cycles on political selection in spanish municipalities
(2024) Biering, Gabriel; Arenas Jal, Andreu
How do economic cycles, especially recessions, affect the competence of politicians as measured by their education? This study examines the causal effect of unemployment shocks during the Great Recession of 2007/2008 on the selection of local politicians in Spanish municipalities. Despite extensive research on what forces determine political selection and the competence of politicians, the impact of economic downturns on the quality of politicians, as measured by unemployment, has been thoroughly overlooked. Yet it is important to understand whether crises produce competent leaders who are able to steer society through troubled waters. Using high-quality data from the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Economy and the Ministry of Finance, this study analyzes the causal relationship between economic cycles, as measured by unemployment, and the educational level of local politicians. I find that only severe cases of economic downturns have a negative impact on the educational level of politicians.
The effects of health insurance expansion on domestic violence: A regression discontinuity analysis in Peru
(2024) Haaker, Dijne; Aurino, Elisabetta; Bellés-Obrero, Cristina
While much literature documents decreasing effects of cash transfers on domestic violence, less is known about the potential effects of health insurance on domestic violence. At the same time, many middle and low-income countries have expanded health insurance schemes. Theory suggests that health insurance is related to well-known risk factors of domestic violence, such as mental health issues and substance abuse. To fill the gap, this study aims to answer the following question: What are the effects of getting access to health insurance on domestic violence? To do so, this paper uses a sharp regression discontinuity design, exploiting the eligibility rule of the Seguro Integral de Salud (SIS) in Peru. Specifically, I compare those women just below and just above the regional threshold. I find that health insurance expansion led to lower control behavior and violence from outside the family for women aged 15-28. Moreover, family violence decreased with stronger effects for both women with very little education and women with higher education. On top of that, the health insurance expansion reduced control behavior and sexual violence for young women with higher education. These findings underscore the potential of health insurance as a tool for reducing domestic violence.
Pride and policy: A survey experiment to understand the influence of homosexuality on policy support
(2024) Halbig, Andreas; Gallego Dobón, Aina
How does the sexual orientation of a politician influence support for their policies? Literature suggests that overall, there is likely to be no effect, while among older, conservative, male individuals support for a policy proposed by a homosexual politician is smaller. Two main theories explain this phenomenon. First, reduced support among this subgroup could be due to the spillover of an individual’s attitudes towards homosexuals on the evaluation of the policy, called attitudinal spillover. Second, scholars emphasize the importance of emotions in the policy process that could be triggered by homosexual politicians. Neither has been tested for homosexual politicians which is due to the relatively recent interest in the study of homosexuality in politics and the scarcity of observational data. To close this gap in the literature, I conducted a vignette experiment embedded in an online survey that manipulates the sexual orientation of politicians in different policy fields. Results hint towards a positive bias in the evaluation of the homosexual politician's policy compared to his heterosexual counterpart although this does not prove to be statistically significant. This study contributes to the understanding of biases in the policy evaluation process and bears important insights in understanding inequalities in political representation.
Judging under the spotlight: Analyzing the effects of public opinion on judicial decisions in sexual violence cases
(2023) Ramírez-Folch, Carmen; Falcó Gimeno, Albert
This paper explores the impact of public opinion on judicial decisions; unlike politicians judges do not have to be held accountable if citizens dislike their decisions. However, previous literature has found that political environments in specific moments can bring judges to make more ideological decisions triggered by the pressure of public opinion. While these studies have predominantly focused on high and politicized courts, this paper fills a gap by researching the role of public opinion in less politicized courts such as intermediate courts. I argue that judges in this setting, where their incentives are not tied to ideology or politics, still have motivations to respond to public demands. The analysis uses a newly built dataset of approximately 11,000 judicial rulings on sexual violence and theft cases from 2015 to 2020. Employing several difference-in-difference models, the findings indicate that judges respond to both the salience of the Manada case and the overturn of the Supreme Court by increasing the prosecution of sexual violence offenses.
AI and the Future of Politics: Reclaiming Control or Reliving the Past? Exposure to AI, Redistribution and Populist Attitudes
(2023) Manschein, Siegfried; Gallego Dobón, Aina
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) technology and attitudes towards populism and demand for redistribution. Theoretically, it is hypothesized that exposure to AI may result in individuals experiencing anxiety about their future status and, as a result, increasingly favor populist attitudes and are more likely to reject redistribution. To test this, a pre-registered online survey experiment was conducted, involving 752 participants who were split into three groups: those who had a free interaction with ChatGPT (199 participants), those who watched an informational video about GPT and generative AI (226 participants), and a control group (327 participants). I find evidence regarding populist attitudes which partly increase after being exposed to AI, but no effect on redistribution support. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis provides evidence concerning different characteristics such as personality, age, and occupational risk.
Deviation and Compliance: Voting Contagion in Marriage in 1930s Barcelona
(2023) Kemp, Isobel; Amat, Francesc, 1980-
Models of household voting contagion have tended to treat the phenomenon as homogenous and multidirectional, however in patriarchal contexts, where women’s autonomy is limited, it is likely to be gendered. This paper examines these Dynamics in the aftermath of suffrage expansion in 1930s Spain, when many had voiced concerns that women, lacking political experience, would have their votes co-opted by their husbands. But was this always the case? Or did there exist circumstances under which these wives were able to cultivate independent political identities? By examining the various channels through which contagion occurs, and considering factors beyond the confines of marriage that may moderate it, I explore heterogeneity of this effect. I doing so, I develop a theoretical framework in which employment reduces intra-marital contagion by providing women with financial resources that increase their bargaining power, and by exposing them to mobilising forces outside the household. I then test these hypotheses using a unique dataset comprising individual voting records from Barcelona (1934-1936). My results suggest that wives’ employment does indeed reduce the influence of their husbands’ turnout on their own, and that this effect is driven by women working in unskilled and manual professions, suggestive of a mobilisation-based mechanism.
Legacies of land inequality and political conflicte : Evidence from 1930s Catalonia
(2023) Roura i Adserias, Xavier; Amat, Francesc, 1980-
What effect does land inequality have on preferences for redistribution? Do past labour mobilizations affect voting behaviour? After years of elite-driven autocratic competition, Spain became a liberal democracy in 1931, and free and fair elections were celebrated for the first time. We discuss two possible outcomes of land inequality in voting for the left, after reviewing two confronting theories, based upon redistributivist models and social control respectively. We are also checking what is the effect of labour mobilisation, using a brand new dataset with fine-grained information on all the recorded strikes in the Barcelona province at the municipal level. Using OLS regressions and an Instrumental Variable approach with taxes paid by the textile industries we find small-to-moderate and positive durable effects of land inequality and labour mobilisation in the elections during the Spanish Second Republic. Finally, we dig into the mechanism by exploiting the surge of labour unrest during the first world war, and look for the effects of land inequality and labour mobilizations on turnout.
Exploring the link between corruption and state capacity: a case study of brazilian municipalities
(2023-09) Castaño Bonilla, Christian David; Sorribas, Pilar
This master thesis aims to investigate the causal effect of corruption on state capacity. While the diversity of theories of the causes and implications of corruption has grown as a result of the increased availability of data, there is a surprising lack of studies attempting to identify the causal effect that corruption has on state capacity. Building on previous literature, this paper employs the difference in differences and event study methods to explain how a case study of a top-down anti-corruption program could allow for a causal analysis of the effects of a drop in corruption on future state capacity, using data from over 250 Brazilian municipalities over 9 years from 2002 to 2010. The findings suggest that a drop in corruption can actively allow for the development of state capacity through several means. With state capacity being a key part of economic development, and capacity building being a core pillar of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the findings could facilitate better-informed policy-making that could have a greater and more holistic impact on developing nations.

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