This article examines the relationship between credit claiming—understood as financial responsibility attribution for multi-level social investment policies—and the political attitudes of policy beneficiaries. Using a survey experiment, the study investigates whether institutional credit claiming affects support for political institutions and whether this impact is confined to the level of government taking credit (institution-specific) or extends to the broader political system. Additionally, it explores how beneficiaries’ personal experiences with the policy may moderate these effects. The experiment targets former participants of a digital skills training program for unemployed women in Catalonia, Spain, funded by the European Union’s Next Generation (NGEU) investment tool and implemented locally. Participants are randomly assigned to four groups: 75% receive credit-claiming messages attributing the program to the European Union, the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, or both; the remaining 25% serve as a control group with no exposure. The study assesses the impact of credit claiming on institutional support and satisfaction with democracy, analyzing how policy experiences mediate these outcomes. Findings aim to contribute to understanding the dynamics of institutional credit claiming in multi-level governance contexts, particularly in the domain of social investment policies, and its implications for political attitudes and democratic support.

Disclaimer: Fieldwork will start in January 2025; preliminary results will be available for the EPSA conference.