Macroeconomic conditions, voter turnout and the working-class/economicallydisadvantaged party vote in developing countries

Working and lower status citizens are more sensitive to macroeconomic fluct uations than their better-off counterparts in the developing world, due to the higher personal stakes involved. This heightened sensitivity affects fl uctuations in voter turnout and voter choice across developing democracies. Macroeconomic downturns result in increased voter participation as more lo wer status voters express their grievances at the polls. This benefits poli tical parties and coalitions with expressly working- and lower-class appeal s. This article describes the impact of shifts in voter turnout on party su pport, the impact of macroeconomic shifts on voter turnout, and the impact of macroeconomic shifts on support for parties that are working-class/econo mically disadvantaged oriented using regression analysis of aggregate poole d time-series data from 10 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Afric a, and Asia. Although increased turnout primarily helps parties that are wo rking-class/economically disadvantaged oriented, as is the case in the indu strial world, the economic effect on party support is substantially greater .