"Who supports liberal policies? A tale of two referendums in Italy"

In this paper, published in Economics Letters, Leonardo Madio (dSEA Unipd) and Francesco Principe (University of Bergamo) examine at the municipality level in Italy the factors that drive support for two referendums: one on the decriminalization of cannabis cultivation and the other on physician-assisted suicide.

Key predictors of support for both referendums include: income, population density, and political leaning of the municipality.

For the cannabis referendum, important factors include also the local economic conditions, such as the number of firms, and educational attainment, along with exposure to organized crime

In contrast, support for legalizing assisted suicide is more likely to be explained by religiosity.

Read the full article here