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Government Economic Policy, Sentiments, and Consumption

Author

Listed:
  • Atif Mian
  • Amir Sufi
  • Nasim Khoshkhou

Abstract

We examine how consumption responds to changes in sentiment regarding government economic policy using cross-sectional variation across counties in the ideological predisposition of constituents. When the incumbent party loses a presidential election, individuals in counties more ideologically predisposed toward the losing party experience a dramatic and discontinuous relative decrease in optimism on government economic policy. Using the interaction of constituent ideology in a county with election timing as an instrument, we estimate the impact of government policy sentiment shocks on consumer spending, and we find a very small effect that cannot be statistically distinguished from zero. The small magnitude of the effect is estimated precisely. For example, we can reject the hypothesis that pessimism regarding government economic policy effectiveness during the Great Recession had as large an effect on consumption as the negative shock to household net worth coming from the collapse in house prices.

Suggested Citation

  • Atif Mian & Amir Sufi & Nasim Khoshkhou, 2015. "Government Economic Policy, Sentiments, and Consumption," NBER Working Papers 21316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21316
    Note: EFG ME PE POL
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jess Benhabib & Mark M Spiegel, 2019. "Sentiments and Economic Activity: Evidence from US States," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(618), pages 715-733.
    2. Al-Thaqeb, Saud Asaad & Algharabali, Barrak Ghanim, 2019. "Economic policy uncertainty: A literature review," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    3. Julie Berry Cullen & Nicholas Turner & Ebonya Washington, 2021. "Political Alignment, Attitudes toward Government, and Tax Evasion," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 135-166, August.
    4. Shu-Heng Chen & Ragupathy Venkatachalam, 2017. "Information aggregation and computational intelligence," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 231-252, June.
    5. Xu, Zhiwei & Zhou, Fei & Zhou, Jing, 2022. "Sentiments and real business cycles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    6. Francesco D’Acunto & Ulrike Malmendier & Juan Ospina & Michael Weber, 2019. "Exposure to Daily Price Changes and Inflation Expectations," NBER Working Papers 26237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General

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