Intermediary Institutions and Information about the European Union.
Abstract:
Much of the recent literature on public support for European integration assumes a fairly high level of sophistication on the part of European publics. In particular, individuals are presumed to have reasonably accurate perceptions of the costs and benefits of integration. This paper identifies the institutions such as political parties, labor unions, professional associations, and the news media which are used as sources of information about the European Union, and examines systematic differences in the subjective and objective levels of information among individuals relying on each major source of information. The results help to identify those individuals who are more likely to behave according to economic utility maximizing models, political cue taking theories, or hypotheses about media influence.
Paper text in PDF format.
Paper text in MS word format.
SPSS code used to read in Eurobarometer data, and perform analyses.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2001 Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta Georgia, Nov 8-10, 2001. Any comments or suggestions about this work are welcome. Please contact the author regarding updated versions of this paper before citation.
Leonard Ray
Department of Political Science
240 Stubbs Hall
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
lray2@lsu.edu