Erika Pini

CORE/LIDAM

will give a presentation on

Polarization in a multidimensional political space - JMP Presentation

Abstract:

In this paper, I study how candidates polarization on economic issues is affected by the existence of a second dimension along which voters are divided. Indeed, in recent years, conflicts on cultural and social issues have risen, adding a new dimension to the political debate. This has transformed a substantially unidimensional competition, focused on the left-right divide on economic issues, into a multidimensional one. I argue that political candidates can strategically use the social and cultural dimension to influence voters support for the economic policy they propose. First, when the electorate is more divided on social values, candidates tend to adopt more ambiguous positions there, which allows them to polarize more on the economic policies. Second, if voters preferences on the two dimensions are correlated, candidates platforms tend to diverge on both economic policies and their value content.