Novedades
12/01/2023

Nueva publicación de Carlos Gervasoni

El Departamento de Ciencia Política y Estudios Internacionales se complace en anunciar que el profesor Carlos Gervasoni ha publicado recientemente el artículo Economic dependence on the state and pro-authority attitudes: evidence from 18 Latin-American countries en el Journal Acta Política.

Abstract del artículo: Government accountability requires autonomous and demanding citizens. Even in consolidated democracies, however, there are segments of the population that are systematically supportive of authority. Why? I argue that material dependence on income coming from the state is an important driver of pro-authority attitudes (PAA). Integrating and generalizing previous claims in the literature, I argue that (a) all forms of economic dependence on public coffers, particularistic or not, make citizens closer to rulers, and (b) the result is not just support for the specific incumbent who first provided (or later maintained) a benefit, but a general positive predisposition towards authority—all rulers, ruling parties, government institutions, and public policies. Survey data from 18 Latin-American countries show that citizens who receive four common and diverse types of income originating in the state—public sector salaries, pensions, welfare assistance, and conditional cash transfers—hold, ceteris paribus, attitudes more favorable to authority than other citizens (the opposite is true for those receiving remittances, which enhance economic autonomy from the state). This effect, however, is conditional on three country-level characteristics that affect incumbents’ control and discretion over fiscal resources: level of democracy, government effectiveness, and economic freedom.

Para acceder a más información del artículo, hacer click aquí.