This paper introduces the main theoretical argument and some empirical analyses of a book project on the effects of financial bailouts on citizens and parties. The paper first briefly introduces the main theoretical claims and the mechanisms that will be used throughout the book project. Secondly, the paper moves to show the empirical analysis conducted until date seeking to prove that the political change observed in countries receiving a financial bailout was not only the consequence of the strict fiscal consolidation packages associated to this programme but also the consequence of a political learning that took
place at the individual level. This empirical part of the article, the main one, uses three different types of analysis. First, the analysis uses country-level data to show how levels of citizens’ attitudes shifted differently according to the intensity of financial monitoring. This analysis is based on a series of diff-in-diff and synthetic control models. The second part of the empirical analysis uses individual data from the Sixth round of the European Social Survey as well as a case study of the UK. Both analyses reveal the co-existence of an effect related to economic as well as political factors.