Unintended institutionalization
How the Politics of Symbolic Fiscal Practices Shapes Economic Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4237283 |
|---|---|
| Authors | José Tomás Labarca (0000-0001-6626-017X, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 365-392 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Socio-Economic Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1475-1461 • E-ISSN: 1475-147X |
| DOI | 10.1093/ser/mwae053 |
| OpenAlex | W4402955682 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 43 |
Sociologists and political economists frequently study the politics of economic ideas, but the official statistics that enable decision-making and shape public debate have been less scrutinized. This article theorizes symbolic fiscal practices-the conceptual and accounting conventions, procedures, techniques and devices underlying official budgetary information-as the object and means of different framing contests. To demonstrate the analytical value of this perspective, the article studies why and how the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR) became the headline fiscal indicator of the UK in the 1970s. It argues the PSBR is a case of unintended institutionalization driven by the interplay between bureaucratic and economic-policy framing contests. Budgetary conventions, tables, labels and numbers are political objects. Their production, uses and understandings are neither pure reflections of economic-policy framing contests nor the sole result of bureaucratic framing contests. The politics of symbolic fiscal practices may thus influence economic policy in unexpected ways
Bureaucracy · Economics · Framing (construction · Institutionalisation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Unintended consequences · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Law · Public Administration
Stewards of the Market
The movement from Keynesianism to monetarism
The "Crisis" of Keynesianism and the Rise of Neoliberalism in Britain
Frame-critical policy analysis and frame-reflective policy practice
Framing Contests
Austerity
Deficit Discourse
The hollowing out of monetarism
Whatever Happened to the Balance of Payments ‘Problem’? The Contingent (Re)Construction of British Economic Performance Assessment
Where’s the money coming from?’ Manifesto costings and the politics of fiscal credibility in UK general elections, 1955–2019
When rules started to rule
Economic statistics as political artefacts
The 'White Heat' revisited
The quiet failures of early neoliberalism
Getting and Spending
The Gnomes of Washington
Framing Moves
Introduction
Making Austerity Popular
Framing Theory
Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State
The Retreat from 'High Technology' in Post-War Britain
Political power beyond the State
Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation
Do economists make policies? On the political effects of economics
American Bonds
Taken for Granted
What's New with Numbers? Sociological Approaches to the Study of Quantification
Government-finance relations in Britain 1964-7
Cycles of polarization and settlement
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |