Government quality, egalitarianism, and attitudes to taxes and social spending

A European comparison

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7771963
AutoresSvallfor (0000-0001-7664-3705, Umeå University, autor correspondente), Stefan Svallfor, Stefan Svallfors
Ano2013
Volume5
Fascículo3
Páginas363-380
Data de publicação2013-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEuropean Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1755-7739 • E-ISSN: 1755-7747
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s175577391200015x
OpenAlexW2060012988
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas111
Referências citadas48

The paper analyses how perceptions of government quality – in terms of impartiality and efficiency – impact on attitudes to taxes and social spending. It builds on data from the European Social Survey 2008 from 29 European countries. The paper shows a large degree of congruence between expert-based judgments and the general public's perceptions of the quality of government. It also shows that the quality of government has a clear, independent effect on attitudes to taxes and spending, so that people who perceive institutions as efficient and fair want higher taxes and spending. But government quality also conditions the impact of egalitarianism on attitudes to taxes and spending: in high-quality-of-government egalitarianism has a clearly stronger impact on these attitudes. It is concluded that government quality is an important and so far neglected factor in explaining attitudes to welfare policies

Economics · Egalitarianism · European Social Survey · Government (linguistics · Government revenue · Government spending · Impartiality · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · Public finance · Quality (philosophy · Social Welfare · Welfare · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Taxation and Compliance Studies