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Who's Responsible for the Economy? The Formation and Consequences of Responsibility Attributions

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  • Thomas J. Rudolph

Abstract

The concept of responsibility lies at the heart of theories of democratic accountability. This article represents the first attempt to explicitly model attributions of presidential versus congressional responsibility for the economy. The article investigates the extent to which contextual and individual‐level factors influence citizens' attributions of responsibility for the economy and how, in turn, such judgments shape their political evaluations. Employing a multinomial probit model of attributional choice, I find that responsibility judgments are shaped to varying degrees by economic ideology, perceptions of institutional context, and partisanship, although the effects of partisanship are not uniform across political parties. The results demonstrate that responsibility attributions are politically consequential and moderate the effects of economic perceptions on presidential and congressional approval. Finally, the results suggest that the effects of responsibility attributions in the sanctioning process are not invariant across the target of institutional evaluation.

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  • Thomas J. Rudolph, 2003. "Who's Responsible for the Economy? The Formation and Consequences of Responsibility Attributions," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 698-713, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:47:y:2003:i:4:p:698-713
    DOI: 10.1111/1540-5907.00049
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    Cited by:

    1. Amy B. Becker, 2020. "Polarization and American Jews: The Partisan Debate Over Attribution of Blame and Responsibility for Rising Anti‐Semitism in the United States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1572-1583, July.
    2. Allison, Thomas H. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Short, Jeremy C., 2013. "The effect of entrepreneurial rhetoric on microlending investment: An examination of the warm-glow effect," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 690-707.
    3. David Brulé, 2006. "Congressional Opposition, the Economy, and U.S. Dispute Initiation, 1946-2000," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(4), pages 463-483, August.
    4. Ze′ev Shtudiner & Galit Klein & Jeffrey Kantor, 2017. "Who is responsible for economic failures? Self-serving bias and fundamental attribution error in political context," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 335-350, January.
    5. Branden B. Johnson & William K. Hallman & Cara L. Cuite, 2015. "Modeling Retrospective Attribution of Responsibility to Hazard‐Managing Institutions: An Example Involving a Food Contamination Incident," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(3), pages 423-433, March.
    6. Alain Paraponaris & Bérengère Davin & Pierre Verger, 2012. "Formal and informal care for disabled elderly living in the community: an appraisal of French care composition and costs," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(3), pages 327-336, June.
    7. Ana Herrero-Alcalde & José Manuel Tránchez Martín & María Goenaga Ruiz de Zuazu, 2018. "Revisiting Responsibility Attribution within Multilevel Governments: The Role of Information," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 226(3), pages 37-58, September.
    8. Kenneth Newton, 2006. "Political Support: Social Capital, Civil Society and Political and Economic Performance," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(4), pages 846-864, December.

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