Replication Data for: Structural and Cyclical Unemployment and Redistribution Support in Europe: The Moderating Role of Welfare State Size

This article examines how unemployment rates correlate with public support for income redistribution in 27 European countries, focusing on unemployment’s cross-sectional and longitudinal effects on redistribution support. By distinguishing between structural and cyclical unemployment, the analysis reveals that higher structural unemployment is associated with stronger pro-redistributive public attitudes. This cross-sectional pattern is especially pronounced in post-communist and Mediterranean countries. While no general longitudinal effect of cyclical unemployment is seen across European countries, analysis supports the “growth to limits” hypothesis: The size of the welfare state moderates the longitudinal association between cyclical unemployment and redistribution support. In larger welfare states, higher cyclical unemployment during economic downturns corresponds with reduced public support for redistribution, while smaller welfare states exhibit either no significant change or a countercyclical trend of redistribution support. These findings are based on three-level within-between random-effects models estimated using nine rounds of the European Social Survey.