TY - JOUR
T1 - It’s all ‘bad’ news! Voters’ perception of macroeconomic policy competence
AU - Easaw, Joshy
PY - 2010/10
Y1 - 2010/10
N2 - The purpose of the present paper is to consider how voters form
perceptions about macroeconomic policy competence by focusing on the role
of recent macroeconomic news: Do their perceived views of good news matter
as much as bad news when they form beliefs about the incumbent
government's competence in managing the macroeconomy, in particular, with
regard to their ability to control inflation and unemployment? We find
that 'bad' news about unemployment persists when households are forming
their perceived competence, whereas 'good' news does not. That is, voters
tend to display pessimistic bias when forming perceptions about the
incumbent government's competence.
AB - The purpose of the present paper is to consider how voters form
perceptions about macroeconomic policy competence by focusing on the role
of recent macroeconomic news: Do their perceived views of good news matter
as much as bad news when they form beliefs about the incumbent
government's competence in managing the macroeconomy, in particular, with
regard to their ability to control inflation and unemployment? We find
that 'bad' news about unemployment persists when households are forming
their perceived competence, whereas 'good' news does not. That is, voters
tend to display pessimistic bias when forming perceptions about the
incumbent government's competence.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955842521&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11127-009-9564-2
U2 - 10.1007/s11127-009-9564-2
DO - 10.1007/s11127-009-9564-2
M3 - Article
SN - 0048-5829
VL - 145
SP - 253
EP - 264
JO - Public Choice
JF - Public Choice
IS - 1-2
ER -
