Why did the ‘recovery’ fail to return the government?

2018 ◽  
pp. 99-125
Author(s):  
Michael Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Economic Voting ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Good Economy ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
The Government ◽  
Irish Case ◽  
Electoral Performance ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter seeks to explain a significant puzzle of the 2016 election. There is now a very extensive literature linking economic performance with the electoral performance of government parties, with the relationship being a positive one. The 2016 election was an unusual illustration of a government being punished despite being able to point to a record of very significant economic growth and rapidly falling unemployment as Ireland’s recovery from the economic crash and bailout made it such a good example of the success of ‘austerity’ policies. Drawing on many studies that argue for certain contingencies in the relationship, this chapter explores a number of ways in which the good economy-government returned to office relationship went wrong. A key finding, contrary to general tendencies in the literature on economic voting, is that ‘pocketbook’ considerations were very significant in determining how voters felt about the government parties. The chapter offers some reasons why the Irish case is unusual and also questions the theoretical bases on which ‘pocketbook’ voting is downplayed in the economic voting literature.

Divided We Fall: Opposition Fragmentation and the Electoral Fortunes of Governing Parties

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ko Maeda
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Economic Voting ◽  
Vote Share ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Clarity Of Responsibility ◽  
Election Results ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opposition Parties

This article introduces the concept of opposition fragmentation into the study of the determinants of election results. Empirical studies have demonstrated that anti-government economic voting is likely to take place where the clarity of responsibility (the degree to which voters can attribute policy responsibility to the government) is high. This argument is extended by focusing on the effects of the degree of opposition fragmentation in influencing the extent to which poor economic performance decreases the government’s vote share. With data from seventeen parliamentary democracies, it is shown that when there are fewer opposition parties, the relationship between economic performance and governing parties’ electoral fortune is stronger. Opposition fragmentation appears to be as strong a factor as the clarity of responsibility.

The Myth of Middle Class Moderation: African Lessons for South Africa

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Pauline H. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Government

An underlying assumption that ocurs in both conventional wisdom and in many academic analyses of political behavior is the notion that a critical linkage exists between political change and economic performance. The assumption is that economic growth is either a precondition or a correlate of democracy and political stability. Little empirical research has been done to test the validity of this widely held assumption as it applies to multicultural societies. Moreover, in the African environment, the assumption seems to operate only in selected cases or in ways that defy categorization. Jerry Rawlings, for example, said he led his first coup d’etat in Ghana because the government was going to devalue the currency; he led his second coup, in part, because the next government was going to devalue; and, during his own tenure in office, he has presided over a 1000 percent devaluation.

The relationship between energy consumption and economic growth: New evidence from Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-153
Author(s):  
Antonia Gkergki
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Vector Error Correction ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Econometric Tests ◽  
The Government ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Relationship

This paper examines the relationship between the energy consumption and economic growth from 1968 to 2019 in Greece, by employing the vector error-correction model estimation. A series of econometric tests are employed concerning the stationary of the data, and the co-integration and the relationship among the variables during the long- and short-term. The em-pirical results suggest that there is no bidirectional relationship between economic growth and energy consumption. More specifically, GDP per capita does not affect the energy consump-tion of the three primary sources either in the long-term or the short-term. In other words, the economic crisis and its implications for GDP do not affect energy consumption, and they are not responsible for the considerable decrease in energy sources' consumption. On the other hand, the energy consumption of oil and coal negatively affect the GDP per capita. These re-sults are different from previous studies' conclusions for Greece; this is because the never been experienced before. These findings raise new research questions and also show the limi-tations of the Greek market, as it is regulated and controlled by the government.

scholarly journals A time series analysis of determinants of FDI in Afghanistan: Which one matters the most, security or economic growth?

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Abdul Fareed Delawari
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
Market Economic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Afghanistan has been practicing market economic system since 2002. Since then, the government has been initiating different policies and announced various incentives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country. However, the outcome has not been satisfactory due to several political and economic factors. This paper explores the relationship between security, economic growth and FDI in Afghanistan, using ARDL model. The paper covers a period from 2002 to 2016. The empirical results of this study show that there is a negative long-term relationship between security and FDI. Hence,  the author concludes that, to attract FDI to the country, insuring security should be the top priority of the government of Afghanistan.

scholarly journals Trade Policies and Economic Growth

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Thanawat Chalkual ◽  
Jeanne Peng ◽  
Shijia Liang ◽  
Yao Ju
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Gdp Growth Rate ◽  
Restrictive Trade ◽  
Tariff Rates ◽  
Economic Growth Rates ◽  
The Relationship

This paper aims to examine the relationship between trade policies and economic growth. In order to test whether restrictive trade policies have a positive impact on economic growth, we investigate America, Australia and China, and, analyse how their economic performance varies between a free trade environment and a relatively protective trade environment. In this paper, we focus on comparative advantage and use various data such as tariff rate, GDP growth rate, unemployment rate, etc. to test the influence of trade policies on economic growth.We find some support that less restrictive trade policy leads to better economic growth; however overall tariff rates do not seem to have a strong effect on economic growth rates

scholarly journals Moderating Effect of Political Instability on ICT and Economic Growth Nexus in Kenya: ARDL Bound - Co-Integration Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matundura Erickson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
High Interest ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adf Test ◽  
The Relationship

The government has attempted to target specific macroeconomic factors in order to stimulate economic growth in Kenya through monetary and fiscal policies. Despite these efforts, Kenya's GDP growth is hampered by high interest rates and high interest rate volatility. Kenya's ability to address macroeconomic instability hinges on its ability to increase economic growth. Auxiliary evidence shows that perspectives on the relationship between ICT and economic growth are segmented. The goal of this study was to determine the impact of ICT on economic growth in Kenya, as well as the moderating effect of political instability on the relationship. The research was based on Solow's theory of growth. An explanatory research design was used, with data spanning from 1990-2020 obtained from Kenya Bureau of Statistics. In the empirical analysis, the study used the bound test to test for a long-run relationship and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model (ARDL) to evaluate the relationship between the variables. The data was subjected to an Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test to determine stationarity.The long run ARDL results indicated that the coefficients of; ICT rate were insignificant . However with the introduction of political instability as the moderator ICT was significant and positively affected economic growth. Political instability moderated the relationship between ICT ( and economic growth. As a result, promoting effective governance should help to improve political stability. The findings of this study will help the government figure out how to address the problem of low economic growth. According to the study, the government should invest in the ICT sector to improve its accessibility and affordability. Additionally, the government should work to improve political stability and good governance by gradually establishing institutions that uphold the rule of law and provide security.

The Relation between Money and Happiness in MENA Countries

2016 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
Hilal Yıldız
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Performance ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Mena Countries ◽  
Crucial Question ◽  
The People ◽  
The Relationship

Even though economic growth plays very important role in development, governments stressed the importance of happiness now. The crucial question is that what exactly is the relationship between happiness and money? Or, what can determine happiness? In recent years, the human well-being of its people has been accepted as a new economic inequalities measure. Not only economic performance of the country but also social, political and cultural performance of the country has been accepted as an indicator of better life of the people. Questions which will be discussed are thinking whether or not economic growth plays a major role in happiness and how the relation between economic growth and happiness. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the relationship between economic growth and happiness in the MENA Region using an empirical analysis.

Income Inequality and Economic Development

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew McKeever
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Considerable Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

The nature of the relationship between economic development and income inequality has long been the subject of considerable debate. Economic growth has very different effects on poverty, depending on a country’s level of income inequality. In high inequality countries, economic growth that raises the overall level of income disproportionately tends to benefit the rich, whereas policies that encourage economic growth while reducing income inequality will greatly accelerate the achievement of poverty reduction goals. Thus, understanding how income inequality and economic development are linked is important for establishing economic growth policies that reduce poverty. The literature on the economic development–income inequality nexus in industrial society places emphasis on the causes of current social inequality. The central and most cited paper in the literature is S. Kuznets’s “Economic Growth and Income Inequality” (1955), which proposed an inverted U-shaped relationship between development and inequality over the course of industrialization. Some scholars have tried to build upon Kuznets’s theory by focusing on his claim that income inequality is a function of the nature of regulations put on the market. Other studies deal with the importance of studying the relationship between democracy and inequality, the effect of the nature of the government on shaping inequality compared to industrialization, and the implications of globalization for income inequality. This overview of the literature shows that there is little true consensus on the relationship between inequality and development and highlights two major areas for improvement: measurement and data quality.

scholarly journals Government Spending and Non-Oil Economic Growth in the UAE

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Carole Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Government Spending ◽  
Vector Autoregression ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The present paper studies empirically the relationship between government spending and non-oil economic growth in the UAE for the last four decades by using the vector autoregression (VAR) approach. The findings of the study suggest that the implementation of expansionary policy, through the intensification of current and development public expenditures, induces an increase in the non-oil economic growth during the subsequent periods of the government spending shock. Thus, the implementation of expansionary government spending stimulates the UAE economy, especially during recession periods. The study suggests that policymakers should concentrate their spending on the right projects, as well as on research and development. Moreover, they should channel their transfers and subsidies to the productive sectors, and they should ensure that higher productivity in public institutions is in conjunction with the rise in wages and salaries to achieve sustainable economic growth.

The British Government and the Oil Companies 1912–1924: the Search for an Oil Policy

1977 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 647-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Gareth Jones
Keyword(s):  
State Intervention ◽  
Overwhelming Majority ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
British Government ◽  
Private Industry ◽  
British Economy ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

The overwhelming majority of studies of the relationship between the British government and private industry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are, in reality, merely studies of the government's policy towards industry. The attitude of private industry towards the government has been almost entirely neglected, and this has inevitably led to a distorted understanding of the relationship as a whole. It is, for example, hardly ever made explicit in the extensive literature on the growth of state intervention in the British economy that in the decades before 1914 the assault on laissez-faire was pardy led by private industry itself. This development was most noticeable overseas, where the British government became involved in commerce and trade largely in response to requests for diplomatic support from British firms faced with growing competition from continental and American commercial interests, often supported by their respective governments.

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