| By: |
Amelie Constant (IZA, Georgetown University and DIW DC);
Martin Kahanec (IZA);
Klaus F. Zimmermann (IZA, Bonn University, DIW Berlin, Free University Berlin and CEPR) |
| Abstract: |
The Orange Revolution unveiled significant political and economic tensions
between ethnic Russians and Ukrainians in Ukraine. Whether this divide was
caused by purely ethnic differences or by ethnically segregated reform
preferences is unknown. Analysis using unique micro data collected prior to
the revolution finds that voting preferences for the forces of the forthcoming
Orange Revolution were strongly driven by preferences for political and
economic reforms, but were also independently significantly affected by
ethnicity; namely language and nationality. Russian speakers, as opposed to
Ukrainian speakers, were significantly less likely to vote for the Orange
Revolution, and nationality had similar effects. |
| Keywords: |
transformation, voting preferences, Ukraine, ethnicity, Orange Revolution |
| JEL: |
D72 J15 |
| Date: |
2006–12 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2530&r=cis |