identifywle

PoliticalBehavior,Vol.
19,No.
1,1997THEECONOMICSOFPOLITICSINCOMPARATIVEPERSPECTIVEREVISITED:AnIntroductionChristopherJ.
AndersonandChristopherWlezienStudentsofpoliticalbehaviorhavelongbeeninterestedinwhetherandhoweconomicsstructurespolitics.
Overthepasttwoandahalfdecades,muchefforthasbeendevotedtoinvestigatingtheinfluenceoftheeconomyonvotingbehavior,electionoutcomes,andgovernmentsupportindemocraticpolities.
AspecialissueofPoliticalBehaviorexplicitlyaddressedtheseissuessomethirteenyearsago.
Sincethepublicationofthatspecialissue,however,anumberofimportantdevelopmentshaveoccurred.
Clearly,wehavelearnedagreatdealabouttheinfluenceoftheeconomyonelections.
Wehavebeenabletoestablishthattherearepowerfuleffectsofeconomicconditionsandperceptionsatvariouslevelsofanalysis(seeNan-nestadandPaldam,1994,foranoverview).
Increasingly,attentionhascen-teredonidentifyinghowtheeconomyinfluencesvotechoice;thatis,researchhasfocusedonwhichofvoters'manyeconomicperceptionsaremostimpor-tant(seeespeciallyLewis-Beck,1988).
Thecumulativebodyofempiricalworknowsupportsasociotropicelectoratethatvotesonthebasisofthestateofthenationaleconomy.
Thebulkofthisworkfindsthatvotersevaluatepastperformance,althoughsomerecentresearchalsosuggeststhatvotersare"prospective,"basingtheirpoliticaljudgmentsonexpectationsoffutureeco-nomicperformance(Lewis-Beck,1988).
Regardlessoftheexactnatureoftheeffects,itisnowfairlyclearthatvotechoiceandelectionoutcomesaredrivenbythedirectionandmagnitudeofeconomicchange,whetherretrospectiveorprospectiveinnature.
ScholarlyinterestintherelationshipbetweentheeconomyandpoliticsChristopherJ.
Anderson,J.
L.
KelloggGraduateSchoolofManagement,NorthwesternUni-versity,Evanston,IL60208-2001,andDepartmentofPoliticalScience,RiceUniversity,Houston,TX77005-1892.
ChristopherWlezien,DepartmentofPoliticalScience,UniversityofHouston,Houston,TX77204-3474.
10190-9320/97/0300-0001SOJ2.
50/01997PlenumPublishingCorporationdoesnotendwithelections,however.
Recentresearchalsohasexaminedtheeffectsoftheeconomyonpublicsupportforvariouspoliticalactorsandinsti-tutions,suchaspoliticalparties,coalitiongovernments,Europeanintegration,anddemocraticsystems(see,e.
g.
,MacKuen,Erikson,andStimson,1989;EichenbergandDalton,1993;Duch,1993;Clarke,Dutt,andKornberg,1993;Anderson,1995a).
Otherrecentresearchhasexploredtheeffectsoftheeconomyonpolicyattitudesandpoliticalvalues(see,e.
g.
,Durr,1993;DuchandTaylor,1993;ClarkeandDutt,1991;AbramsonandInglehart,1995;Wlezien,1995).
Most,ifnotall,ofthisresearchrevealsimportanteconomiceffects.
Yetotherresearchhasfocusedonthecausesofeconomicperceptionsthemselves,bothcross-sectionallyandovertime(see,e.
g.
,Neumann,1986;Luskin,1987;Conover,Feldman,andKnight,1987;MacKuenandMouw,1995;WilcoxandWlezien,1996).
Itappearsthatperceptionsofeconomicperformancevaryacrossindividuals,dependingonsocioeconomicstatus,eco-nomicexperiences,cognitiveabilities,andpoliticalpreferences.
Italsoseemstobethecasethatperceptionsofeconomicperformancecanvaryovertimeindependentlyofactualeconomicconditions.
Overall,researchontheecon-omyandpoliticsismovinginmanydifferentdirections,reflectingamorediversesetoftheoreticalconcerns.
InApril1995,aworkshopwasheldatRiceUniversitytotakestockofthesedevelopmentsandtoidentifyandpursuethenextstageofresearchontheeconomicsofpoliticalbehaviorandattitudes.
Theworkshopbroughttogetheranumberofscholarswithdifferentperspectivesonthesubject.
Asubsetofthepaperspresentedattheworkshophasbeencompiledforthisvolume.
1Eachofthearticlescontainedhereinbuildsonthebodyofpreviousworkandseekstoadvanceourunderstandingofthenexusbetweeneconomicsandpoliticsinimportantways.
Indeed,eachofthearticlesformspartofthenewagendaoutlinedabove.
Tobeginwith,Wlezien,Franklin,andTwiggsreconsidertheeffectsofeco-nomicperceptionsonvotingbehavior,focusingonLewis-Beck's(1988)semi-nalwork.
Buildingonthegrowingliteraturethatexaminesthedeterminantsofeconomicperceptions,theauthorstreatperceptionsasadependentvari-ableandaskwhethertheyaretrulyexogenous,asmostresearchersassume.
Theiranalysesshowthatindividuals'economicperceptions,particularlypro-spectiveones,arestructuredbyvotechoiceitself.
Moreover,whenthisendo-geneityistakenintoaccount,theeffectsofeconomicperceptionsonvotechoicearesubstantiallyreduced.
Thenexttwoarticlesaddressmaterialistandpostmaterialistvalueorienta-tions.
IntheirstudyofvaluechangeinWesternEurope,Clarke,Dutt,andRapkinchallengeAbramsonandInglehart's(1995)pathbreakingresearchonthesubject.
Clarkeetal.
findthattheobservedtrendtowardpostmaterialism2ANDERSONANDWLEZIENlargelyreflectsmacroeconomicconditions.
Basedontheseanalysestheycon-cludethatthetrendisameasurementartifact.
Inresponse,Abramson,Ellis,andInglehartprovidetheirownanalysesandarguethatClarkeetal.
'sconclu-sionsareunfounded.
Inabriefpostscript,Clarkeetal.
offeranassessmentofwhatwehavelearnedabouttheeconomicsofvaluechange.
ThefinaltwoarticlesaddressattitudestowardEuropeanintegration,whichalsohaveonlyrecentlybeenanalyzedfromaneconomicperspective.
Build-ingontheevolvingliteratureonthesubject,DuchandTaylorexaminetheinfluenceofobjectiveeconomicconditionsonpublicsupportforEuropeanintegration.
Incontrast,GabelandWhittenexaminetheinfluenceofeco-nomicperceptions.
Theirfindingsdiffer:whileDuchandTaylorshowthatsupportforEuropeanintegrationislargelyunrelatedtoeconomicperfor-mance,GabelandWhittenfindthatsupportforintegrationiscloselylinkedtoeconomicperceptionsattheindividuallevel.
Inonesense,thesefindingsalsosuggestthatpeoplesperceptionsoftheeconomydonotneatlyreflectobjectiveeconomicconditionsthemselves.
Allofthearticlesinthisissuedoshareoneimportantfeature:theyallareexplicitlycomparativeandcross-nationalinapproach.
Suchcomparativere-searchoffersobviousadvantages.
Perhapsmostimportantly,itallowsustoassesswhetherrelationshipsholdinageneralwayacrosspoliticalcontexts.
Ofcourse,itmaybethatthepoliticalsystemstructurestheeffectsofeconomicconditionsandperceptionsinpredictableways(see,e.
g.
,PowellandWhitten,1993;Remmer,1993;PacekandRadcliff,1995;Anderson,1995b).
Italsomaybethatthepoliticalsystemeffectivelystructureseconomicperceptionsthemselves.
Theseissueswarranttheongoingattentionofpoliticalscientists.
Itisasimportanttotakestockofwherewehavebeenasitisusefultoplotwherewearegoing,particularlywhereresearchhasevolved(andisevolving)invariousdirections.
Judgingfromourexperienceattheworkshop,researchontheeconomyandpoliticalbehavior—whilemovingindifferentdirec-tions—ismovingforwardinsystematicways.
InresponsetoMichaelLewis-Beck'sintroductiontothepreviousspecialissueofPoliticalBehavior,wecansaythatwehavemovedbeyondouroriginalpreoccupationwithwhethertheeconomyinfluencesbehaviortofocusonhowtheeconomyinfluencesbehav-ior.
Moreover,wehavemovedbeyondourpreoccupationwithelectionout-comesandvotingbehaviorinahandfulofcountriestofocusonarangeofsubstantiveconcernsinanumberofregionsoftheworld.
Thesedevelop-mentscauseustobesanguineabouttheenterprise.
NOTE1.
WealsohaveincludedanarticlebyAbramson,Ellis,andInglehartthatwasnotpresentedattheworkshopheldApril22-23,1995.
Asidefromtheindividualscontainedherein,severalECONOMICSOFPOLITICS3othersparticipatedintheworkshop:RobertErikson,CarolynFunk,PatriciaGarci'a-Monet,JanLeighley,MichaelMacKuen,CalvinMouw,HelmutNorpoth,DavidSanders,MarianneStewart,andDanielS.
Ward.
WearegratefultotheCenterfortheStudyofInstitutionsandValuesatRiceUniversityaswellastheCollegeofSocialSciencesandtheCenterforPublicPolicyattheUniversityofHoustonfortheirsponsorship.
WealsothankAnneCooney-Smith,ChristineGuillory,JuanCarlosHuerta,M.
ShawnReichert,RichardRozelle,RobertStein,RichardStoll,KentTedin,andGregoryWeiher.
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4ANDERSONANDWLEZIENMacKuen,MichaelB.
,andCalvinMouw(1995).
SocialClassandEconomicJudg-ments.
PaperpresentedattheWorkshopontheEconomyandPoliticalBehavior,RiceUniversity,Houston,TX,April22-23,1995.
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Bingham,andGuyWhitten(1993).
Across-nationalanalysisofeconomicvoting:Takingaccountofthepoliticalcontext.
AmericanJournalofPoliticalScience37:391-414.
Remmer,KarenL.
(1993).
ThepoliticaleconomyofelectionsinLatinAmerica,1980-1991.
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Wilcox,NathanielT,andChristopherWlezien(1996).
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AmericanJournalofPoliticalScience39:981-1000.
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