Bartle, John and Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian and McGann, Anthony (2019) Policy accommodation versus electoral turnover:Policy representation in Britain, 1945-2015. Journal of Public Policy, 39 (2). pp. 235-265. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X18000090
Bartle, John and Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian and McGann, Anthony (2019) Policy accommodation versus electoral turnover:Policy representation in Britain, 1945-2015. Journal of Public Policy, 39 (2). pp. 235-265. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X18000090
Bartle, John and Dellepiane Avellaneda, Sebastian and McGann, Anthony (2019) Policy accommodation versus electoral turnover:Policy representation in Britain, 1945-2015. Journal of Public Policy, 39 (2). pp. 235-265. DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X18000090
Abstract
Does public policy in the UK respond to changes in public preferences? If so, is this the result of the government changing its policy to reflect preferences (‘policy accommodation’) or the result of governments that pursue unpopular policies being replaced at elections by governments more in line with the public (‘electoral turnover’)? We explore these questions by estimating aggregate public preferences (‘the policy mood’) using responses to 287 questions administered 2087 times and policy using budgetary data (‘non-military government expenditure’) for the whole of the post-war period. We find that mood moves in the opposite direction to policy and variations in mood are associated with variations in vote intentions. Policy is responsive to party control but not directly responsive to mood. Shifts in mood eventually lead to a change in government and thus policy, but this process may be very slow if the public has doubts about the competence of the opposition
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | accommodation; electoral turnover; policy mood; representation; responsiveness |
Subjects: | J Political Science > JA Political science (General) |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Government, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 09 Aug 2018 13:37 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 20:46 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/21227 |
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