The Domestic Politics of the International Dollar Standard: A Statistical Analysis of Support for the Reserve Currency, 2000–2008

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Shih ◽  
David A. Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Central Banks ◽  
Reserve Currency ◽  
Treasury Securities ◽  
International Dollar ◽  
Political Clout ◽  
Dollar Standard ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Using Data

Abstract.Why did most central banks continue to purchase dollar reserves during the 2000s even though they suffered mounting financial losses as a result of this policy? This paper argues that domestic political considerations determine whether policy makers accumulate or dump the reserve currency. We hypothesize that central bank independence decreases support for the dollar because independent central banks reduce the political clout of exporters and increase the salience of financial performance. This argument is tested using data on countries' holdings of US Treasury securities between 2000 and 2008. The statistical results indicate that countries with independent central banks were more likely to sell and less likely to purchase US treasuries. Our findings suggest that a complete understanding of the international dollar standard requires greater attention to domestic politics and how political institutions influence the balance of power between competing interest groups.Résumé.Pourquoi est-ce que la plupart des banques centrales ont continué à acheter des réserves de dollars au cours des années 2000, même quand ils souffraient des pertes financières en raison de cette politique? Cet article soutient que des considérations de politiques nationale déterminent si les responsables des politiques décident d'accumuler ou de vider leurs monnaie de réserve. Nous émettons l'hypothèse que l'indépendance de la banque centrale décourage le soutien pour le dollar, car les banques centrales indépendantes réduise la puissance politique des exportateurs et augmente l'importance de la performance financière. Cet argument est testé en utilisant des données sur la quantité de titres du Trésor américain possédée par pays entre 2000 et 2008. Les résultats statistiques démontrent que les pays avec des banques centrales indépendantes étaient plus susceptibles de vendre et moins susceptibles d'acheter des obligations du Trésor américain. Nos résultats suggèrent qu'une compréhension complète de l'étalon dollar international exige une plus grande attention à la politique nationale, et comment les institutions politiques influencent l'équilibre du pouvoir entre les groupes d'intérêts concurrents.

Institutions and Political Support

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Expectation ◽  
Using Data

This chapter analyzes to what extent variation in political institutions affects political support. The chapter observes that the existing research is not always clear on which institutions should produce what kind of effect, although a general expectation is that institutional arrangements improve political support when they give citizens an increased sense of connection to the political process. In general then, we should expect institutions that strengthen the quality of representation to strengthen political support. This general expectation is specified in six hypotheses that are tested using data from the ESS 2012. The chapter demonstrates that electoral systems that provide voters with more choice about candidates, multiparty governments, and “responsive” legislatures, correlate positively with political support. However, compared to other macro-level factors and individual characteristics, the effects of political institutions on political support are modest. The chapter concludes that the prospects for institutional reform to strengthen political support are limited.

scholarly journals Exit, Voice and Political Change: Evidence from Swedish Mass Migration to the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mounir Karadja ◽  
Erik Prawitz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Travel Costs ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Initial Wave ◽  
Political Effects ◽  
Welfare Expenditures ◽  
Using Data

We study the political effects of mass emigration to the United States in the nineteenth century using data from Sweden. To instrument for total emigration over several decades, we exploit severe local frost shocks that sparked an initial wave of emigration, interacted with within-country travel costs. Our estimates show that emigration substantially increased the local demand for political change, as measured by labor movement membership, strike participation, and voting. Emigration also led to de facto political change, increasing welfare expenditures as well as the likelihood of adopting more inclusive political institutions.

Does Membership Matter?

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Auerswald ◽  
Stephen M. Saideman
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Military

This chapter looks at two countries, Australia and New Zealand, that are partners with but not members of NATO. Australia and New Zealand have British-style political institutions, with the key decisions made by the prime minister and his or her minister of defense. The chapter then assesses whether membership in NATO makes a difference. It argues that non-membership can actually be a shield that countries use to deflect harder choices and more responsibilities. Otherwise, the domestic dynamics work like they do in Great Britain or Canada, demonstrating that the military constraints imposed by nations are driven far more by domestic politics than by NATO institutions.

4. The Domestic Sources of Foreign Economic Policies

2020 ◽  
pp. 76-108
Author(s):  
Michael J. Hiscox
Keyword(s):  
Exchange Rates ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Domestic Sources ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines the domestic sources of foreign economic policies. Different people in every society typically have different views about what their government should do when it comes to setting the policies that regulate international trade, immigration, investment, and exchange rates. These competing demands must be reconciled in some way by the political institutions that govern policy making. To really understand the domestic origins of foreign economic policies, we need to perform two critical tasks: identify or map the policy preferences of different groups in the domestic economy; and specify how political institutions determine the way these preferences are aggregated or converted into actual government decisions. The first task requires some economic analysis, while the second requires some political analysis. These two analytical steps put together like this, combining both economic and political analysis in tandem, are generally referred to as the political economy approach to the study of policy outcomes. The chapter then considers the impact of domestic politics on bargaining over economic issues between governments at the international level.

Does Legitimacy Matter?

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 689-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary LaFree ◽  
Nancy A. Morris
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institutional Legitimacy ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Institutional Authority ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
The Law ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Compliance With The Law

Legitimacy is conceptualized as subjective individual attitudes and expectations about formal institutional authority and is often thought of as a reservoir of trust or goodwill that formal governing authorities draw on to secure acceptance and compliance with the law. Recent public opinion surveys in predominantly Muslim countries report declining support for U.S. government and policy, as well as increasing support for Muslim-based groups that attack the United States. Based on prior research within the United States showing that perceptions of legitimacy are related to both acceptance and compliance with the law, we examine whether perceptions about the legitimacy of the U.S. government may also be related to support for anti-American transnational terrorist attacks. Using data from more than 3,600 face-to-face interviews with respondents from three Muslim countries, we examine the effects of support for the American government, people, and culture on support for Muslim-based groups that attack Americans. In addition, we examine the effects of perceived domestic institutional legitimacy on support for Muslim-based groups that attack Americans. Our results indicate that individuals who have more favorable attitudes toward American citizens and culture are less likely to support attacks against Americans by Muslim-based groups. We also find that perceived legitimacy in one’s own political institutions, including government, police, and the criminal justice system, is associated with lower levels of support for groups that attack Americans. We discuss the implications of the results for research and policy.

Workers' Councils and Political Stratification: The Yugoslav Experience

1978 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Verba ◽  
Goldie Shabad
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Open Channels ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Using Data

Many students of citizen participation claim that one solution to the problem of political inequality in liberal democracies lies in the establishment of direct participatory channels in decentralized socioeconomic and political institutions similar to those found in Yugoslavia. Others argue that the availability of participatory channels in the workplace leads to the domination of these channels by a technocratic elite. Still other students of participation in Yugoslavia claim that participatory channels are dominated by the political elite, the League of Communists.In this paper, we examine this set of conflicting hypotheses by using data which come from an extensive survey of participatory activities in four Yugoslav republics. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that workers' councils open channels for a more technocratically oriented participation. When it comes to other kinds of activity, affiliation with the League is more important than socioeconomic or professional status in determining who participates. But because League members come disproportionately from upper-status groups, there is not a marked difference in the extent to which membership in workers' councils and participation in other kinds of activity are biased in favor of the advantaged segments of Yugoslav society. In each case, but for different reasons, it is the upper-status citizen who is likely to be active.

Information, peer comparison and social interdependence: theorising the impacts of COVID-19 on Gulf domestic politics

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-430
Author(s):  
Justin J. Gengler
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Social Interdependence ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Governance Indicators ◽  
Individual Comparison ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
Universal Nature

This article theorizes three layers of impacts of the Coronavirus crisis on internal GCC politics, and then identifies potential causal mechanisms operating at each level. A first and primary layer concerns governance, and revolves around the state’s performance in managing the virus outbreak. A secondary level relates to scarcity and inequality, and is linked to the state’s handling of economic and social knock-on effects of the pandemic. A tertiary level is connected to peer comparison, and involves GCC states’ (lack of) coordination of political responses at the regional or sub-regional level. Several key factors emerge from the investigation as potent catalysts for new political dynamics in the Arab Gulf states. One is the unusual availability and clarity of information about state performance surrounding Covid-19, which stands in stark contrast to the general lack of reliable governance indicators for GCC and other MENA countries. Another is the universal nature of the Coronavirus shock, which allows Gulf citizens and residents to make direct comparisons of state performance and policy responses that may reveal a disproportionately negative (or positive) personal or collective outcome. Third, the person-to-person transmission of Covid-19 shatters the traditional social and geographical segregation of Gulf societies, with once-isolated communities now directly and profoundly impacted by each other’s behavior, preferences, and incentives. Finally, variation in resource endowments and political institutions across the GCC precludes easy regional harmonization of post-Covid social and economic policy, once more inviting individual comparison with relatively advantaged or disadvantaged peers in neighboring states.

Election result will tone down Turkey's foreign policy

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Turkish Foreign Policy ◽  
Election Result ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Political Clout ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Policy Shifts

Subject The June 7 elections' consequences for Turkish foreign policy. Significance The elections are the first setback since 2002 for the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has dominated and in many ways transformed Turkish foreign policy. The AKP's unquestioned prowess in domestic politics had rendered foreign policy almost a non-issue, with courses of action being determined by the party alone, even when the opposition voiced criticism. The elections have undermined AKP's grip on power and will lead to a weaker coalition, minority government or period of acute political uncertainty, if not instability, defined by possible early elections by late-2015. Impacts Turkey will adopt a more 'toned-down' discourse and policy on such divisive issues domestically as the Syrian civil war. Major policy shifts in long-term trends, including Turkey's EU, US and Russian relationships, are unlikely. Erdogan will probably adopt a 'softer' discourse with the West, moderating his former confrontational attitude. Potential for tensions exist with the increasing political clout and territorial reach of the Syrian Kurdish militia.

scholarly journals Policy Pathways to Gender Power: State-Level Effects on the US Division of Housework

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYNN PRINCE COOKE
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Child Support ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
State Level ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Division Of Housework ◽  
Gender Power ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Laws And Policies

Across industrialised countries, men contribute one-third of the household time in domestic tasks despite women's rising labour force participation. Like a Russian doll, however, the private sphere of the household nests within broader socio-political institutions. Proposed here is a relative gender power model incorporating both individual and policy-derived resources to explain differences in the division of household tasks. The sensitivity of the model to state-level policy differences is tested using data from the second wave of the US National Survey of Families and Households. After controlling for women's individual resources, laws and policies enhancing women's economic circumstances in the event of a divorce such as receipt of transfers, child support and property settlement predict that men in couples perform a greater share of domestic tasks. This evidence confirms that the state can ameliorate gender hierarchies and inequality.

scholarly journals Does Paying Politicians More Promote Economic Diversity in Legislatures?

2016 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 699-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS CARNES ◽  
ERIC R. HANSEN
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
Economic Diversity ◽  
Political Office ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Using Data

If politicians in the United States were paid better, would more middle- and working-class people become politicians? Reformers often argue that the low salaries paid in state and local governments make holding office economically infeasible for lower-income citizens and contribute to the enduring numerical under-representation of the working class in our political institutions. Of course, raising politicians’ salaries could also make political office more attractive to affluent professionals, increasing competition for office and ultimately discouraging lower-income citizens from running and winning. In this article, we test these hypotheses using data on the salaries and economic backgrounds of state legislators. Contrary to the notion that paying politicians more promotes economic diversity, we find that the descriptive representation of the working class is the same or worse in states that pay legislators higher salaries. These findings have important implications for research on descriptive representation, political compensation, and political inequality.

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