Download or read book Partisan Cycles in Congressional Elections and the Macroeconomy written by Alberto Alesina and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The post-war United States exhibits two rather strong politico-economic regularities. The political regularity is that the party of the President has always lost votes in aid-term Congressional elections, relative to its Congressional vote in the previous elections; the economic regularity is that Republican administrations exhibit below average economic growth in the first half of each term and Democratic administrations are associated with above average growth in their first half. In the second halves economic growth is similar under the two administrations. We provide a rational expectations model which can explain these two regularities. In Presidential elections voters have to choose between two polarized candidates; mid-term elections are used to counterbalance the President's policies by strengthening the opposition in Congress. Since presidents of different parties are associated with different economic policies, our model predicts a (spurious) correlation between the state of the economy and elections. The predictions of our model are in sharp contrast with those of traditional retrospective voting models in which voters simply reward the incumbent if the economy is doing well immediately before the election. Our empirical results suggest that our model performs at least as well and often better than alternative models. In addition, we question previous claias that voters are short sighted and naively backward looking.
Download or read book Budget Deficits and Budget Institutions written by Mr.Alberto Alesina and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1996-05-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By discussing the available theoretical and empirical literature, this paper argues that budget procedures and budget institutions do influence budget outcomes. Budget institutions include both procedural rules and balanced budget laws. We critically assess theoretical contributions in this area and suggest several open and unresolved issue. We also examine the empirical evidence drawn from studies on samples of OECD countries, Latin American countries and the United States. We conclude with a discussion of the normative implications of this literature and with some concrete proposals.
Download or read book Political Cycles in a Developing Economy written by Stuti Khemani and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empirical results from India suggest that politicians exert greater effort in managing public works during election years. Surprisingly, there is no evidence of a populist spending spree to sway voters just before elections.
Download or read book Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy written by Alberto Alesina and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how electoral laws, the timing of election, the ideological orientation of governments, and the nature of competition between political parties influence unemployment, economic growth, inflation, and monetary and fiscal policy. The book presents both a thorough overview of the theoretical literature and a vast amount of empirical evidence.
Download or read book Partisan Politics Divided Government and the Economy written by Alberto Alesina and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-27 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops an integrated approach to understanding the American economy and national elections. Economic policy is generally seen as the result of a compromise between the President and Congress. Because Democrats and Republicans usually maintain polarized preferences on policy, middle-of-the-road voters seek to balance the President by reinforcing in Congress the party not holding the White House. This balancing leads, always, to relatively moderate policies and, frequently, to divided government. The authors first outline the rational partisan business cycle, where Republican administrations begin with recession, and Democratic administrations with expansions, and next the midterm cycle, where the President's party loses votes in the mid-term congressional election. The book argues that both cycles are the result of uncertainty about the outcome of presidential elections. Other topics covered include retrospective voting on the economy, coat-tails, and incumbency advantage. A final chapter shows how the analysis sheds light on the economies and political processes of other industrial democracies.
Download or read book Political Control of the Economy written by Edward R. Tufte and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1978 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Speculations about the effects of politics on economic life have a long and vital tradition, but few efforts have been made to determine the precise relationship between them. Edward Tufte, a political scientist who covered the 1976 Presidential election for Newsweek, seeks to do just that. His sharp analyses and astute observations lead to an eye-opening view of the impact of political life on the national economy of America and other capitalist democracies. The analysis demonstrates how politicians, political parties, and voters decide who gets what, when, and how in the economic arena. A nation's politics, it is argued, shape the most important aspects of economic life--inflation, unemployment, income redistribution, the growth of government, and the extent of central economic control. Both statistical data and case studies (based on interviews and Presidential documents) are brought to bear on four topics. They are: 1) the political manipulation of the economy in election years, 2) the new international electoral-economic cycle, 3) the decisive role of political leaders and parties in shaping macroeconomic outcomes, and 4) the response of the electorate to changing economic conditions. Finally, the book clarifies a central question in political economy: How can national economic policy be conducted in both a democratic and a competent fashion?
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior written by Jan E. Leighley and published by Oxford University Press (UK). This book was released on 2012-02-16 with total page 796 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics are the essential guide to the study of American political life in the 21st Century. With engaging contributions from the major figures in the field The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior provides the key point of reference for anyone working in American Politics today
Download or read book Vital Statistics on Congress 1991 1992 written by Norman J. Ornstein and published by CQ-Roll Call Group Books. This book was released on 1991-09 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Political Business Cycles written by Bruno S. Frey and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of articles on how the government influences the economy in order to secure re-election. This book surveys the empirical and major theoretical approaches, such as vote maximization, partisan and vote-cum-partisan models, and rational political business cycles. It provides extensions including the role of the central bank, of direct democracy, and the cycles in European communist countries, as well as discussing policy relevance.
Download or read book The American Political Economy written by Douglas A. Hibbs and published by . This book was released on 1987-10-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and authoritative work on relationships between the economy and politics in the years from Eisenhower through Reagan. Hibbs identifies which groups “win” and “lose” from inflations and recessions and shows how voters’ perceptions and reactions to economic events affect the electoral fortunes of political parties and presidents.
Download or read book The Broken Branch written by Thomas E. Mann and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two nationally renowned congressional scholars review the evolution of Congress from the early days of the republic to 2006, arguing that extreme partisanship and a disregard for institutional procedures are responsible for the institution's current state of dysfunction.
Download or read book NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2000 written by Ben Bernanke and published by Mit Press. This book was released on 2001-02-19 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The NBER Macroeconomics Annual presents, extends, and applies pioneering work in macroeconomics and stimulates work by macroeconomists on important policy issues. Each paper in the Annual is followed by comments and discussion.
Download or read book Vicious Cycle written by Constantine J. Spiliotes and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation. American presidents enter office ready to enact a policy-making agenda that will satisfy partisan interests and facilitate reelection to a second term. Economic circumstances, however, may catch presidents in a vicious cycle of economic growth and inflation versus recession and unemployment. Faced with responsibility for the nation's economic health, presidents are often forced to make tradeoffs between pursuing political objectives and stabilizing the economy. Vicious Cycle provides a theoretical framework for explaining how presidents pursue partisan and electoral objectives in office while simultaneously managing the nation's economy. With an approach that bridges several literatures in presidential studies and political economy, Constantine J. Spiliotes develops an econometric model of postwar presidential decision making in the American political economy and examines its relationship to economic decision making in four presidencies. These extensively documented case studies -- of presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, Carter, and Reagan -- offer variation across several analytic dimensions: temporal, partisan, electoral, and institutional. Spiliotes concludes that tradeoffs between political objectives and institutional responsibility are driven by a transformation in the nature of the American presidency, from an office in which decision making is anchored in partisan accountability to one constrained by the chief executive's institutional mission. Spiliotes's work contributes to a fuller understanding of the presidency and political economy and the methodologies that elucidate them.
Download or read book Exceptions to the Rule written by Molly E. Reynolds and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Special rules enable the Senate to act despite the filibuster. Sometimes. Most people believe that, in today's partisan environment, the filibuster prevents the Senate from acting on all but the least controversial matters. But this is not exactly correct. In fact, the Senate since the 1970s has created a series of special rules—described by Molly Reynolds as “majoritarian exceptions”—that limit debate on a wide range of measures on the Senate floor. The details of these exemptions might sound arcane and technical, but in practice they have enabled the Senate to act even when it otherwise seemed paralyzed. Important examples include procedures used to pass the annual congressional budget resolution, enact budget reconciliation bills, review proposals to close military bases, attempt to prevent arms sales, ratify trade agreements, and reconsider regulations promulgated by the executive branch. Reynolds argues that these procedures represent a key instrument of majority party power in the Senate. They allow the majority—even if it does not have the sixty votes needed to block a filibuster—to produce policies that will improve its future electoral prospects, and thus increase the chances it remains the majority party. As a case study, Exceptions to the Rule examines the Senate's role in the budget reconciliation process, in which particular congressional committees are charged with developing procedurally protected proposals to alter certain federal programs in their jurisdictions. Created as a way of helping Congress work through tricky budget issues, the reconciliation process has become a powerful tool for the majority party to bypass the minority and adopt policy changes in hopes that it will benefit in the next election cycle.
Download or read book The Presidential Pulse of Congressional Elections written by James E. Campbell and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing phenomenon in American electoral politics is the loss of seats by the president's party in midterm congressional elections. Between 1862 and 1990, the president's party lost seats in the House of Representatives in 32 of the 33 midterm elections. In his new study, James Campbell examines explanations for these midterm losses and explores how presidential elections influence congressional elections. After reviewing the two major theories of midterm electoral change-the "surge and decline" theory and the theory of midterms as referenda on presidential performance Campbell draws upon each to propose and test a new theory. He asserts that in the years of presidential elections congressmen ride presidential coattails into office, while in midterm elections such candidates are stranded. An additional factor is the strength of the presidential vote, which influences the number of seats that are won, only to be lost later. Finally, Campbell examines how the presidential pulse may affect electoral accountability, the relationship between Congress and the president, and the relative strength of Congress, the president, and political parties. He explores the implications of the presidential pulse for understanding electoral change, evaluating the American voter's competence, and assessing the importance of split-ticket voting. Including both election returns and survey data, The Presidential Pulse of Congressional Elections offers a fresh perspective on congressional elections, voting behavior, Congress, and the presidency.
Download or read book The Politics of Congressional Elections written by Gary C. Jacobson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-12-16 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gary Jacobson’s classic text provides students with a comprehensive introduction to congressional elections and the electoral process. Based on the latest data from the National Election Study, the Cooperative Congressional Elections Study, and the Federal Election Commission, the Ninth Edition has been brought completely up to date, including coverage and analysis of the 2012 and 2014 elections. New coauthor, Professor Jamie L. Carson of the University of Georgia, brings to bear new insights into the changing roles of voters, Congress, political parties, and the media. Pairing historical data analysis and original research with fundamental concepts of representation and responsibility, The Politics of Congressional Elections presents students with the tools to evaluate representative government, as well as their own role in the electoral process.
Download or read book Competitive Elections in Developing Countries written by Myron Weiner and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the latest in the At the Polls series, in which Duke University Press has joined with the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research to publish studies on the electoral process as it functions around the world. Cited by Choice for its "high standard of scholarly analysis and objectivity," the series provides both a chronicle of events and a thorough analysis of the election results.
