Ideology, strategy and party competition in postwar Norway

Abstract. Electoral manifestos are a key instrument of democratic political parties in their quest for popular support. This article investigates the contents of postwar Norwegian party manifestos. The analysis builds on the saliency theory of party competition. Methodologically, it replicates the factor analysis of Budge, Robertson, and Hearl (1987). Four factors are uncovered. Two of these can be identified with the left-right dimension, one with the moral-religious axis, and one with material centre-periphery conflicts. A high degree of interparty consensus and convergence is evident, particularly prior to 1970. The results are generally consistent with previous research on Norwegian mass and party politics.     

Budget deficits and interest rates in the United States

In this paper, an attempt has been made to reexamine the effect of budget deficits in the United States on interest rates. Unlike the previous studies which use only one definition of the dependent variable, we have used all three, namely, the nominal and the ex-post and the ex-ante real interest rate. Further, unlike previous studies, we considered both short-term and long-term interest rates. Our results provide absolutely no support for the proposition that federal deficits affect interest rates and thus contradict the recent findings by Cebula (1987) and Kolluri and Giannaros (1987). Finally, the paper provides some further support for the inverted Fisher hypothesis proposed by Carmichael and Stebbing (1983).Thanks are due to Zheng Wei for research assistance.     

The impact of sector employment on party choice: A comparative study of eight West European countries

Abstract.  In this article, the impact of sector employment on party choice in eight West European countries is examined. The empirical analysis is organised into three parts. First, the impact of sector on party choice treated as a nominal-level variable is analysed. Then the impact of sector within various social classes is focused upon, and finally sector employment is considered in relation to the division between socialist and non-socialist parties. The impact of sector employment is large in Denmark; moderate in Britain, France and Italy; small in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands; and insignificant in Ireland. The impact of sector employment is much greater within the service class than any of the other social classes. The party families of the left, and also the greens, get stronger support from the public employees, while the main party families among the non-socialist parties, apart from the Christian Democrats, get strongest support from private-sector employees. Sector employment is most strongly correlated with socialist/non-socialist party division in Denmark followed by France and Britain, with only minor or insignificant correlation in the other countries.