Economic Outcomes, Quality of Governance, and Satisfaction with Democracy

Abstract

This chapter investigates the impact of economic outcomes and quality of government on political support, arguing that the effect of economic performance is contingent on the quality of government. This hypothesis is derived from procedural fairness theories in organizational psychology according to which procedural fairness moderates the effects of outcome favorability on support for authorities. The chapter develops and tests the hypotheses that citizens’ political support is most affected by economic outcomes in those countries where the quality of government is lowest. In contrast, in contexts of high quality of government, political support is expected to be less sensitive to short-term economic fluctuations. Using ESS data and aggregate indicators of economic performance, the chapter finds that in countries where the quality of government is high, the impact of economic indicators is marginal, but where the quality of government is low, political support is quite sensitive to economic outcomes.