European University Institute Library

Economic politics in the United States, the costs and risks of democracy, William R. Keech, Duke University

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

no index present

non fiction

Economic politics in the United States

844073652

William R. Keech, Duke University

the costs and risks of democracy

This book uses macroeconomic performance to evaluate democratic institutions and processes in the United States. Originally published in 1995, this revised edition gives a more pessimistic assessment than the first did. Employing macroeconomic performance as a lens to evaluate democratic institutions, the author uses public choice and political economy models of political behavior that give room for opportunism on the part of public officials and shortsightedness on the part of voters to see if democratic institutions lead to inferior macroeconomic performance. What has happened since the publication of the first edition to make the conclusions about democratic performance more pessimistic? The author finds that informal institutions of democracy, such as the norm that the federal budget should be balanced, have deteriorated so that performance suffers --, Provided by Publisher

Part I. Introduction: 1. Macroeconomic politics and the costs and risks of democracy; 2. Macroeconomic theories and their political implications; Part II. Models of Macroeconomic Politics: 3. Models of accountability and opportunism: the electoral cycle; 4. Models of choice: partisanship; 5. Unintended consequences, moral hazard, and time consistency; Part III. The Sources and Authority of Macroeconomic Goals: 6. The authority of macroeconomic goals; 7. Voters, elections, accountability, and choice; Part IV. Institutions and Processes: 8. Rules, discretion, and accountability in the monetary policy process; 9. Rules, discretion, and accountability in the fiscal policy process; Part IV. Conclusion: 10. The costs and risks of democracy