RAPID: A Referendum on Debt: The Political Economy of Icesave

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

What are the origins of international economic policy? Scholars from across the social sciences have drawn on scores of analytical models, derived a multitude of operational hypotheses, and implemented a variety of empirical tests in their quest to come up with satisfactory answers to this question. While informative, most of these attempts run into problems because they often do not directly link the preference of voters-those who demand policies-to those of politicians-those who supply policies. This occurs for a multitude of reasons including, but not limited to, incomplete models of policy maker preferences, a relainace on economic models to gauge citizen preferences, and a true lack of comprehensive data to measure voter preferences. One way to directly examine the influence of voter preference international economic policy is to look at national referenda on these issues. Unfortunately, at least from the point of view of social scientists, is that that here have been only three such votes over the last 50 years. Fortunately, the Icelandic people voted on March 6th in a national referendum on the terms under which their government will guarantee repayment of failed deposits in Icelandic banks reimbursed to British and Dutch nationals by their respective governments. This so-called "Icesave" referendum -named for the deposit scheme primarily responsible for the collapse of the bank whose liabilities are at issue-provides a unique episode within which to explore mass political behavior related to international economic policy. This project undertakes a survey of Icelandic voters to ascertain the intensity and origin of their preferences regarding the referendum. It will help increase our understanding of the underlying reasons for individual attitudes towards economic policy. The survey instrucment will the identification of economic, cultural, demographic, social and political causes. This study will also provide insight into a critical episode in the current financial crisis. More broadly, as the world seeks to rebound from the global financial crisis, the results of this study will figure among the many sets of lessons available to inform scientific understandings of, but also policy influcence over, the political economy that surrounds us.