Identity and Interests: Voter heuristics and support for redistributive policies

Abstract

This dissertation argues that identity is often used in the political world as a heuristic for predicting one's own future income. This use of group incomes as a heuristic for personal interest leads to a close connection between group identities and support for redistributive policies. Whether such policies have positive or negative effects on an individual's material well-being depends on that person's future income, so members of richer groups - who, all else equal, have higher future incomes - are less supportive of redistributive policies. The dissertation then goes on to test this argument in four distinct contexts, each focused on ethnic and regional identities. First, it shows that this heuristic theory is consistent with survey results in a global sample. Next, it shows a similar level of consistency with results from European surveys. It then focuses on the United Kingdom, examining regional and ethnic identities using both panel data and a survey experiment. Finally, it uses surveys in Slovakia and the Czech Republic to provide further support for heuristic theory.