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Economic Voting in South Korea: Pocketbook or Sociotropic?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2012

AIE-RIE LEE  and
YONG U. GLASURE
AIE-RIE LEE
Affiliation:
The Department of Political Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409uqlee@ttacs.ttu.edu
YONG U. GLASURE
Affiliation:
School of Business, University of Houston-Victoria, Victoria, TX 77901Glasurey@uhv.edu
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Abstract

Using 2003 Asian Barometer Survey study data, this paper examines the economic voting model in the 2002 presidential election in South Korea. The core emphasis of the paper is on an investigation of the relative effects of different dimensions/scopes of economic evaluations on voting behavior, namely whether one form of assessment (e.g., pocketbook vs. sociotropic) can have similar consequences for electoral participation as others. The findings indicate that the overall economy is salient for Koreans to shape their political choices. In other words, voting behavior in Korea depends on how she or he thinks the national economy has been for the past five years. Also found is that voters’ perceptions of their own personal financial situations did not matter much as a predictor of voter choice.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2012 , pp. 337 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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