Economics of voting in post-communist countries

Abstract

I analyze economic determinants of voting behavior in post-communist elections in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. I argue that election results reflect the voters' experience with economic reforms: those who benefited from the reforms vote for the right wing pro-reform parties, whereas those who have become worse off vote for the left wing parties. This identifies two categories of voters, the winners and the losers of reforms. The winners are the private entrepreneurs, white-collar workers, and university educated voters. On the other hand, the losers are the unemployed, retirees, and blue collar and agricultural workers. Cross-section patterns of political support are determined by the parties' association with the reforms rather than their incumbency status. Incumbency only appears significant in explaining the marginal vote gain or loss between elections.