Replication data for: The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine (doi:10.7910/DVN/QJOJKV)

View:

Part 1: Document Description
Part 2: Study Description
Part 3: Data Files Description
Part 4: Variable Description
Part 5: Other Study-Related Materials
Entire Codebook

Replication data for: The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine

doi:10.7910/DVN/QJOJKV

Harvard Dataverse

2011-07-15

1

Joseph Daniel Ura; Erica M. Socker, 2011, "Replication data for: The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QJOJKV, Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:5:zQa/pZR2HVXrywD/meHwQA== [fileUNF]

Replication data for: The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine

doi:10.7910/DVN/QJOJKV

Joseph Daniel Ura (Texas A&M University)

Erica M. Socker (Texas A&M University)

Harvard Dataverse

2011-07-15

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QJOJKV

The notion of “starving the beast” has been an important justification for fiscal programs emphasizing revenue reductions since the mid-1970s. While the idea of restraining government spending by limiting government revenues has an intuitive appeal, there is convincing evidence the reducing federal tax rates without coordinated reductions in federal spending actually produces long-term growth in spending. This perverse result is explained by a theory of “fiscal illusion.” By deferring the costs of government services and benefits through deficit financing, starve the beast policies have the effect of lowering the perceived price of government in the minds of many citizens. We assess the principal behavioral prediction of the fiscal illusion theory. Incorporating estimates of the effects of federal deficits into a standard substantive model of Stimson's mood index, we find strong support for a subjective price-driven theory of demand for government. In particular, we find that the size of the federal budget deficit is significantly associated with greater demand for government services and benefits. This may have important implications for contemporary debates about fiscal discipline.

<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0">CC0 1.0</a>

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Erica M. Socker. 2011. The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine. The Forum 9(2): Article 7.

Ura, Joseph Daniel and Erica M. Socker. 2011. The Behavioral Political Economy of Budget Deficits: How Starve the Beast Policies Feed the Machine. The Forum 9(2): Article 7.

• Number of cases: 51

• No. of variables per record: 16

• Type of File: text/tab-separated-values

UNF:5:zQa/pZR2HVXrywD/meHwQA==

• mood - Mood (Stimson 2009)
• dmood - d.mood
• lmood - l.mood
• deficit_gdp - Deficit as a % of GDP
• ddeficit_gdp - d.deficit_gdp
• ldeficit_gdp - l.deficit_gdp
• domestic_gdp - Domestic Spending as a % of GDP
• ddomestic_gpd - d.domestic_gdp
• ldomestic_gdp - l.domestic_gdp
• inflation - Inflation
• dinflation - d.inflation
• linflation - l.inflation
• unemployment - Unemployment
• dunemp - d.unemployment
• lunemp - l.unemployment
• year - Year

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:PAMRXUPZk4AsAIMS92WAYQ==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:sHddHYsMtjCoQwE8RO7dKg==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:EwHnIrk8qKL7C2BN9E0bTQ==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:Ng+qgNY9hEqCr7WZcVnMPg==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:XES1YXNsQtocLgrHcxgkdg==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:tTtuDQk/EcZdpTGmm7APgA==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:25rWugHvUmtcmPULFKER9w==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:oVwozEne2N9Zpm5nKezW0Q==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:D5YPU0qhz4quMkdjA2RMug==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:so97HvHIktQDzdm8WDkUEQ==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:ImmYFV8VUYXhPUHHbMNMOA==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:SbOXh7golrA1e2rn30eayg==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:ldVW3ML8AjmLsNBWQTznpQ==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:Sgs1xRoGGzKSPinfEAN1Jw==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:XhqIzYSesbybbs2CuGD7mw==

f2300595 Location:

Variable Format: numeric

Notes: UNF:5:B3HoNHggq8Tqt/23M5nmmA==

Label:

ura and socker (2011) forum replication log.pdf

Text:

Stata code and output (PDF).

application/pdf