Quarterly Journal of Political Science > Vol 5 > Issue 1

Democratic Accountability in Open Economies

Thomas Sattler, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Ireland, thomas.sattler@ucd.ie , Patrick T. Brandt, School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, The University of Texas, USA, pbrandt@utdallas.edu , John R. Freeman, Department of Political Science University of Minnesota, USA, freeman@umn.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Thomas Sattler, Patrick T. Brandt and John R. Freeman (2010), "Democratic Accountability in Open Economies", Quarterly Journal of Political Science: Vol. 5: No. 1, pp 71-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00009031

Publication Date: 22 Apr 2010
© 2010 T. Sattler, P. T. Brandt and J. R. Freeman
 
Subjects
Democracy,  Political economy,  Public opinion,  Comparative politics
 

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In this article:
Theory 
Empirical Assessment of Democratic Accountability 
Application to a Critical Case: Great Britain 
Conclusion 
Appendix: Estimation Details of the B-SVAR Model 
Appendix: Specification of the SVAR Models 
References 

Abstract

We analyze democratic accountability in open economies based on different hypotheses about political evaluations and government responsiveness. Specifically, we assess whether citizens primarily rely on government policies or if they focus on economic outcomes resulting from these policies to evaluate governments. Our empirical analysis relies on Bayesian structural vector autoregression models for the British economy, aggregate monthly measures of public opinion, and economic evaluations from 1984 to 2006. We find that voters continuously monitor and strongly respond contemporaneously to changes in monetary and fiscal policies, but less to changes in macroeconomic outcomes. Voters also respond to policies differently when institutions change. When the Bank of England became politically independent, citizens shifted their attention toward fiscal policy, and the role of monetary policy in their evaluations decreased significantly. Finally, politicians respond to voting behavior by adjusting their policies in a sensible way. When vote intentions and approval decrease, the government reacts to the public by adjusting fiscal policy and, before the Bank of England became independent, also monetary policy.

DOI:10.1561/100.00009031