How do voters weigh economic concerns in their calculus of partisan choice in voting booths and opinion polls? How do voters arrive at their perceptions of economic conditions and assign responsibility for them to incumbent governments? And when do people go beyond electoral reactions in expressing their sentiments about economic well-being?The contributors to Economics and Politics employ sophisticated methods of analysis to isolate the effects of specific economic conditions such as unemployment and inflation. While some look at the effects of aggregate data on the electorate taken as a whole, others examine individual perceptions of economic conditions gleaned from survey data. The contributors, from several European countries as well as the United States, consider the relationships between economics and politics both cross-nationally and individually in West Germany, the United States, France, Britain, and Italy.Taken together, these contributions present the most comprehensive comparative assessment of economic influence on mass political behavior. The crucial role of strategic politicians, intervening in the economy as well as in public evaluations of the economy, receives considerable attention; so do interventions such as wars and political turnover. In sorting out economic facts and assigning responsibility to politicians amid such uncertainty, the publics of Western democracies display considerable sophistication.

Helmut Norpoth is Professor of Political Science, State University of New York, Stony Brook. Michael S. Lewis-Beck is Professor of Political Science, University of lowa. Jean-Dominique Lafay is Professor of Political Science, University of Paris.