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Populism and economic policy: lessons from Central and Eastern Europe
[journal article]
Abstract A growing literature has identified a coherent economic model associated with populist governments in Central and Eastern Europe. This model runs counter to some aspects of the former neoliberal consensus in the region and to established theories of good governance. Considering three cases which are... view more
A growing literature has identified a coherent economic model associated with populist governments in Central and Eastern Europe. This model runs counter to some aspects of the former neoliberal consensus in the region and to established theories of good governance. Considering three cases which are representative of these developments - Poland (since 2015), Hungary (since 2010), and Romania (2016-19) - we argue that a major unexplained puzzle is the relatively good economic performance of such governments. We develop three interrelated explanations for this apparent puzzle and test them using quantitative data. First, macroeconomic data show that the populist rhetoric of these parties is not associated with classical macroeconomic populism. Second, government accounting data show that public spending has been targeted towards specific groups and has not led to increasing tax burdens. Third, firm-level data on business confidence and institutional perceptions show no obvious negative effects associated with these governments.... view less
Keywords
populism; Hungary; Poland; Romania; Central Europe; Eastern Europe; economic policy; Eurobarometer; macroeconomics
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Economic Policy
Free Keywords
Flash Eurobarometer 374 (Businesses' Attitudes towards Corruption in the EU) (ZA5892 v1.0.0); Flash Eurobarometer 428 (Businesses' Attitudes Towards Corruption in the EU) (ZA6650 v1.0.0); Flash Eurobarometer 457 (Businesses' Attitudes Towards Corruption in the EU) (ZA6918 v1.0.0); Flash Eurobarometer 482 (Businesses' Attitudes Towards Corruption in the EU) (ZA7628 v1.0.0)
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 219-245
Journal
Post-Communist Economies, 34 (2022) 2
Issue topic
New Challenges for Fiscal Policy in Central and Eastern Europe
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/14631377.2022.2029253
ISSN
1465-3958
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0