Responsiveness, If You Can Afford It: Policy Responsiveness in Good and Bad Economic Times
Traditional theories of representation posit that political parties have incentives to respond to public opinion which, in turn, is reflected in public policy as parties come together to form governments. Absent from this chain of representation, however, is the notion of costs.  We advance the study of policy responsiveness by arguing that the government’s cost of responding to the electorate is marginal under conditions of strong economic growth but considerable during hard economic times. Cross-national analyses of voters and government welfare policies produces results that are consistent with this expectation. The findings imply that democratic performance, expressed as responsiveness, is conditional on economic growth. We also evaluate how policy responsiveness is conditioned by different power-sharing institutions.
Date: 5 November 2019, 12:30 (Tuesday, 4th week, Michaelmas 2019)
Venue: Nuffield College, New Road OX1 1NF
Venue Details: Clay Room
Speaker: Lawrence Ezrow (University of Essex)
Organisers: David Rueda (Nuffield College), Ezequiel Gonzalez Ocantos (Nuffield College), Andy Eggers (Nuffield College)
Organiser contact email address: maxine.collett@nuffield.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Maxine Collett