• Subscribe
  • /
  • Login
AggreStrat
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Global Overview
  • Regions
    • Central and South Asia
    • East Asia and Pacific
    • Europe & Eurasia
    • Near East
    • Sub-Saharan Africa
    • Western Hemisphere
  • Topics
    • Cyber Security
    • Economic Trends
    • Education
    • Enviornment, Climate Change, and Sustainability
    • Foreign Affairs
    • Global Commerce and Transportation
    • Instability, Extremism, and Terrorism
    • Medical Research and Healthcare
    • Security Cooperation and Military Strategy
  • Links
    • Google Scholar
    • Think Tank Watch
  • Contact Us

Random Events, Economic Losses, and Retrospective Voting: Implications for Democratic Competence

Quarterly Journal of Political Science (QJPS) | 10/08/2010

Abstract

We leverage the natural experiment afforded by tornado incidence to estimate the effect of exogenous economic loss on electoral outcomes. We find that voters punish the incumbent party in presidential elections for economic damage resulting from tornadoes. Although this behavior could suggest that retrospective voting in this domain reflects voters irrationally blaming incumbent politicians for circumstances beyond their control, we instead find evidence suggesting that voting behavior reflects democratic competence. First, voters do not punish the incumbent party for tornado-caused deaths, which governments likely do not have the power to address with effective policy. Second, the incumbent party only appears to lose votes when no disaster declaration takes place in response to the tornado. Thus, voters appear to be rewarding and punishing government with respect to its performance in handling the disaster, as opposed to blaming the government for these natural events.

Suggested Citation

Andrew Healy and Neil Malhotra (2010), "Random Events, Economic Losses, and Retrospective Voting: Implications for Democratic Competence", Quarterly Journal of Political Science: Vol. 5: No. 2, pp 193-208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/100.00009057

Read more >>

Posted on:

Economic Trends | General | Journals |








    ABOUT AGGRESTRAT

    The Aggregation of Strategy and Foreign Policy

    We at AggreStrat believe that the best decisions are informed decisions.

    AggreStrat strives to bring together the world’s best think tanks, professional periodicals, academic journals, and government statements together in one place for quick review.

    Through quickly collecting and correlating information, decision-makers and researchers can find the subjects and content produces they need quickly to be informed and ready.

    AggreStrat Admin

    admin@aggrestrat.com

    Social Links
    tag cloud
    East Asian and Pacific European and Eurasian Near East South and Central Asia Sub-Saharan Africa Western Hemisphere
    • Home
    • Archive
    • Search
    Copyright 2019 © AggreStrat | All Rights Reserved

    Powered by