CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Kreis, Felix |
|---|---|
| Title | Protected by complexity? The Effect of Austerity on Trust in the European Union |
| Summary | How do austerity measures impact trust in the European Union (EU)? This thesis examines the relationship between restrictive fiscal policy and citizens’ trust in the EU by building on economic voting and bounded rationality theory. In addition, it sheds light on how trust in national governments, knowledge about the EU and corruption shape the effect of austerity on trust in the EU. The undertaking controls for macroeconomic factors and individual characteristics on the country and the individual level. Multilevel logistic regression models are employed to identify relevant determinants that affect the complex relationship between austerity and trust in the EU. The models are fed with a large-N dataset ranging from 2006 to 2021 which comprises 27 EU member states. The study finds that higher levels of austerity lead to a decrease in trust in the EU. This supports recent studies that highlight the negative effect of austerity on trust in the EU and adds to the literature by revealing moderating and mediating effects. Trust in the national government acts as a positive mediator. While higher EU knowledge does not moderate citizens’ austerity-induced loss of trust in the EU, national corruption somewhat limits the loss of trust through austerity. |
| Supervisor | Fazekas, Mihály; Vasilopoulos, Pavlos |
| Department | School of Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/kreis_felix.pdf |
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