Learning, political attitudes and crises: Lessons from transition countries
type: Dataset
description: This paper illustrates the sensitivity of political attitudes to the business cycle. It shows how the 2008 economic crisis has reshaped individual support for democracy and market liberalization in post-transition countries. Pro-reform attitudes have lost ground between 2006 and 2010 in Central and Eastern European countries that were hit by a negative economic shock. By contrast, they have increased in the CIS. Although on average, individual exposure to the crisis is associated with lower support to democracy and markets, it drives the demand for liberal reforms among groups of the population that were most excluded from the political-economic system in place, the youth particularly, in countries that lag behind in terms of liberalization and, where institutions are corrupt. We propose an interpretation of these evolutions in terms of learning and updating of beliefs.
issued: 2026-05-10T06:17:23.394834
language: en
modified: 2026-05-10T06:17:23.394839
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD
keyword: corruption
keyword: crisis
keyword: cycles
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsarticle
keyword: jel-e---macroeconomics-and-monetary-economicsee3---prices-business-fluctuations-and-cyclesee3
keyword: jel-o---economic-development-innovation-technological-change-and-growthoo5---economywide-count
keyword: journal-articles
keyword: learning
keyword: political-preferences
keyword: shsecohumanities-and-social-scienceseconomics-and-finance
landing page: 0147-5967

Learning, political attitudes and crises: Lessons from transition countries
type: Distribution
format: HTML
issued: 2026-05-10T06:17:23.409535
modified: 2026-05-10T06:17:23.380999
access URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00847352

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent