Research Details

Abstract

We study if U.S. Members of Congress who experienced an economic recession during early adulthood vote differently on redistribution-specific bills. We find that politicians who experienced a recession hold more conservative positions on redistribution, even compared to members of the same party. In light of recent empirical evidence showing that voters become more supportive of redistribution following a recession, our findings suggest that macroeconomic shocks might have a polarizing effect: recessions can create an ideological wedge between voters and their future representatives. We hypothesize, and present evidence suggesting that, this wedge might be explained by politicians’ more privileged background.

Type

Article

Author(s)

Edoardo Teso, Maria Carreri

Date Published

2021

Citations

Teso, Edoardo, and Maria Carreri. 2021. Economic Recessions and Congressional Preferences for Redistribution. Review of Economics and Statistics.