Authors

• Francesc Pujol (fpujol@unav.es)
  Department of Economics, Universidad de Navarra

Abstract
We propose a theoretical method to catch politicians' fiscal attitude concerning deficits and debt based on the analysis of the political discourse. We describe the methodological steps used to obtain it. The methodology is applied to the case of US President during the period 1920 to 2008. The results can be exploited in order to better understand the formation and the evolution of fiscal preferences and their influence on fiscal performance. As the index is based on normative and positive attitudes about deficits, their analysis can show the presence of strategic political behavior, giving thus a way to test some theoretical models on budgetary political behavior.

Classification JEL:D72, H30, H6

Keywords:fiscal discipline, fiscal conservatism, political attitude, discourse analysis

Number of Pages:36

Creation Date:2009-01-18

Number:null/09