Globalization and Austerity

Flipping Partisan Effects on Fiscal Policy During (Recent) International Crises

Bibliographic Data

ID6345940
AuthorsDamian Rae (0000-0003-2715-2074, World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume71
Issue2
Pages332-358
Publication date2023-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00323217211015811
OpenAlexW3176327530
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited51

This article investigates the effect of government partisanship on fiscal policy outputs during the three international economic crises of 1981–1984, 1990–1994 and 2008–2013. Encompassing 19–23 advanced democracies, the statistical analysis suggests that partisan effects have increased over time and are characterized, in the two last crises, by a “new asymmetry” whereby left governments pursued more contractionary fiscal policies than non-left governments over the course of the business cycle. Furthermore, it attributes left governments’ endorsement of austere fiscal policies to the constraining effects of financial markets in the context of high/surging debt. This is supported by qualitative analysis of select government responses to the Global Financial Crisis, shedding new light on the new austerity that started in the early 2010s. The ideological mix with political partisanship during hard times surely is confusing to ordinary citizens. The article cautiously points to a neglected yet important international economic origin of our political discontents

Austerity · Business cycle · Context (archaeology · Economic policy · Economics · European debt crisis · European union · Financial crisis · Fiscal policy · Globalization · Government (linguistics · Government Debt · Ideology · Macroeconomics · Market economy · Monetary economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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