Budget Deficits and National Saving: Are Politicians Exogenous?

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward M Gramlich
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Budget Deficits ◽  
Private Saving ◽  
Private Households ◽  
Massive Scale ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Better Than

After years of relative abstinence, the United States has experimented with persistent budget deficits on a rather massive scale in the 1980s. Economists have generally been quite critical of this fiscal policy, though there are respectable minority views arguing that federal deficits are not so bad and quite possibly better than likely corrective measures. In this paper, I examine the evidence that the great deficit experiment is generating. I first look at the deficits themselves to see how high they really are, dealing with a number of measurement criticisms that have been raised from various quarters. I then discuss two critical responses to the deficits—that of private saving and that of public spending—to determine the impact of the deficits on national saving. A key issue that recurs throughout the discussion is whether the political behavior that leads to the deficits can be taken as exogenous: Are private households better viewed as responding to exogenous public sector deficits, or is something in the air causing both public deficits and a decline in private saving?

scholarly journals Is There a Bias Toward Excess in U.S. Government Budgets or Deficits?

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L Schultze
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
The Political ◽  
Budget Deficits

Do the political institutions of a majoritarian representative democracy, and in particular those of the United States, systematically produce either levels of public spending or budget deficits that are excessive? Should U.S. political institutions be altered by constitutional amendment to deal with these problems? I will start by examining the issue of public spending, and then turn to the question of budget deficits.

Democratic Resilience

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Face ◽  
Distinguished Group

Politics in the United States has become increasingly polarized in recent decades. Both political elites and everyday citizens are divided into rival and mutually antagonistic partisan camps, with each camp questioning the political legitimacy and democratic commitments of the other side. Does this polarization pose threats to democracy itself? What can make some democratic institutions resilient in the face of such challenges? Democratic Resilience brings together a distinguished group of specialists to examine how polarization affects the performance of institutional checks and balances as well as the political behavior of voters, civil society actors, and political elites. The volume bridges the conventional divide between institutional and behavioral approaches to the study of American politics and incorporates historical and comparative insights to explain the nature of contemporary challenges to democracy. It also breaks new ground to identify the institutional and societal sources of democratic resilience.

Emigration and the diffusion of political Salafism

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekrem Karakoç ◽  
Talha Köse ◽  
Mesut Özcan
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Statistical Difference ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Opinion Survey ◽  
Public Opinion Survey ◽  
Gulf Countries ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates the impact of emigration on the political behavior of citizens in Egypt. In particular, it argues that emigrants’ family members are more likely to vote for Salafi parties for several reasons, including the transfer of religious remittances by Egyptian emigrants to the Gulf and the influence of transnational Salafi networks. In order to test our argument, we conducted an original public opinion survey with around 1100 individuals between January 12, 2012 and January 25, 2012, just after the Egyptian parliamentary election. We find that individuals with family members who had emigrated to the Gulf voted heavily for Islamist parties, particularly the Freedom and Justice Party and the Nour Party. Further analysis shows that there is no statistical difference between individuals with and without emigrant family members in voting for the Muslim Brotherhood, while the Nour’s popularity among voters with emigrant family members is substantial and statistically significant. In particular, we find that the strongest support for the Nour came from individuals whose family members had immigrated to Saudi Arabia, whereas those whose family members had immigrated to other countries, including other Gulf countries, do not differ significantly from non-emigrant family members in their party preferences.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study on Social Media Use and Public Participation in Korea and the United States: Does Social Media Matter?

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-230
Author(s):  
Kim Eun Yi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Interaction Effect ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The Impact

This study examines how the use of different types of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, affects public participation, drawing on the theory of motivation, which addresses the effect of internal and external political efficacy as well as the perceived political importance of social media. The study also investigates the interaction effect between social media use and perceived the political importance of social media on public participation. Employing a comparative perspective on an issue that has not been well studied, the study further seeks to discover potential variations in the impacts of different social media on public participation in the United States and Korea, both of which held presidential elections at the end of 2012. This study conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses using data collected from college students in the United States and Korea. It shows the positive impact of social media use and its interaction effect with the perceived political importance of social media on the offline and online public participation of youth. The political motivational factor is found to be critical to driving public participation. This study also shows that the impact of Facebook use is more influential than Twitter use on public participation in the United States, whereas the opposite pattern is observed in Korea.

scholarly journals المقومات الاقتصادية لماليزيا وأثرها في قوة الدولة

لارك ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
pp. 275-306
Author(s):  
عطا الله سليمان الحديثي ◽  
إسراء كاظم الحسيني
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Major Elements ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Impact

Abstract: The economic elements are of great importance to the componential structure of the Malaysian society. Moreover, the economic structure represents one of the major elements of a state might. The economic potentials of a state include whatever resources it has or whatever it can get to achieve its strategies or the self-sufficiency of its people in wartime. In peacetime, on the other hand, the state should depend on a strong economic base that helps achieve a completion to its parts and a basic element of its internal political integrity. Accordingly, the various types of the economic resources with respect to the production, exchange, and consumption represent one of the influential factors that affect the political behavior of a state- the way of its thinking, saying, decision-making, and actions. Much of the political behavior of a state comes from its economic background within its territory. However, the factor that plays a significant role in determining the actual might of a state is the number of population a state has and its ability in investing its resources. From this vantage, Malaysia represents one of the economically rich countries owing to its various natural resources. Furthermore, both trade and transport help a great deal in redistributing the economic resources of Malaysia. For the latter importance, the present work is to showcase in detail the role the economic factors play in achieving the stability and integrity of Malaysia and its people. Besides, it sheds light on the impact of ethnic diversity and the strategic position in the world on the overall stability of the state.                          

scholarly journals The Political Impact of Immigration: Evidence from the United States

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 358-389
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Mayda ◽  
Giovanni Peri ◽  
Walter Steingress
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Skilled Immigrants ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Indirect Impact ◽  
Political Effect ◽  
The Impact

This paper studies the impact of immigration to the United States on the vote share for the Republican Party using county-level data from 1990 to 2016. Our main contribution is to show that an increase in high-skilled immigrants decreases the share of Republican votes, while an inflow of low-skilled immigrants increases it. These effects are mainly due to the indirect impact on existing citizens’ votes, and this is independent of the origin country and race of immigrants. We find that the political effect of immigration is heterogeneous across counties and depends on their skill level, public spending, and noneconomic characteristics. (JEL D72, J15, J24, J61, R23)

Duterte’s Foreign Policy Pivot and Its Impact on Philippine Trade and Investments: An International Political Economy Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 127-160
Author(s):  
Jenny D. Balboa
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Trade And Investment

Abstract Since the Philippines elected President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, the country’s foreign policy seems to have become more uncertain. President Duterte’s mercurial personality and antagonistic tirades against the country’s traditional Western allies, including the United States (US) and the European Union (EU), and his statements of building closer ties with China and Russia, had changed the political and diplomatic tone of the Philippines overall. Certainly, the political relationship between the Philippines and the West has been changed by Duterte’s strong remarks against the US and EU. Has this change spilled over to the economy? The paper presents an international political economy framework in examining the impact of Duterte’s foreign policy pivot to the country’s foreign economic relations, focusing on trade and investment. The paper argues that Duterte’s foreign policy shift is mainly shaped by Duterte’s “politics of survival”. Not firmly anchored in any idea, norms, or interest that can clearly benefit the country, Duterte is unable to provide coherent guidance and leadership on the foreign policy pivot, particularly on the economy. Duterte’s lack of guidance provided the technocrats with the policy space to continue the policies from the previous administration and not to divert radically from previous economic policies. The stability of the economic institutions provided a refuge in the period of uncertainty. As a result, the foreign economic relations of the Philippines has not radically shifted. The trade and investment situation of the Philippines remained stable, and economic relations with traditional partners are maintained.

scholarly journals The Impact of Experience with a Family Member with Alzheimer’s Disease on Views about the Disease across Five Countries

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Blendon ◽  
John M. Benson ◽  
Elizabeth M. Wikler ◽  
Kathleen J. Weldon ◽  
Jean Georges ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Family Member ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
The United States ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Fatal Disease ◽  
The Public ◽  
Educational Campaigns ◽  
The Impact

The objective of this paper is to understand how the public’s beliefs in five countries may change as more families have direct experience with Alzheimer’s disease. The data are derived from a questionnaire survey conducted by telephone (landline and cell) with 2678 randomly selected adults in France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and the United States. The paper analyzes the beliefs and anticipated behavior of those in each country who report having had a family member with Alzheimer’s disease versus those who do not. In one or more countries, differences were found between the two groups in their concern about getting Alzheimer’s disease, knowledge that the disease is fatal, awareness of certain symptoms, and support for increased public spending. The results suggest that as more people have experience with a family member who has Alzheimer’s disease, the public will generally become more concerned about Alzheimer’s disease and more likely to recognize that Alzheimer’s disease is a fatal disease. The findings suggest that other beliefs may only be affected if there are future major educational campaigns about the disease. The publics in individual countries, with differing cultures and health systems, are likely to respond in different ways as more families have experience with Alzheimer’s disease.

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