@book{KayserChangLinzerandetal.2011, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Chang, Eric C.C. and Linzerand, Drew and Rogowski, Ronald}, title = {Electoral Systems and the Balance of Consumer-Producer Power}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {Cambridge [u.a.]}, isbn = {9780521138154}, pages = {262}, year = {2011}, abstract = {This book investigates the effects of electoral systems on the relative legislative and, hence, regulatory influence of competing interests in society. Building on Ronald Rogowski and Mark Andreas Kayser's extension of the classic Stigler-Peltzman model of regulation, the authors demonstrate that majoritarian electoral arrangements should empower consumers relative to producers. Employing real price levels as a proxy for consumer power, the book rigorously establishes this proposition over time, within the OECD, and across a large sample of developing countries. Majoritarian electoral arrangements depress real prices by approximately ten percent, all else equal. The authors carefully construct and test their argument and broaden it to consider the overall welfare effects of electoral system design and the incentives of actors in the choice of electoral institutions.}, language = {en} } @article{KayserBlaydes2011, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Blaydes, Lisa}, title = {Counting Calories: Democracy and Distribution in the Developing World}, series = {International Studies Quarterly}, volume = {55}, journal = {International Studies Quarterly}, number = {4}, issn = {1468-2478}, doi = {10.1111/j.1468-2478.2011.00692.x}, pages = {887 -- 908}, year = {2011}, abstract = {How does regime type affect the poor? Are certain types of regimes better at translating economic growth into consumption for the world's least privileged citizens? We propose an alternative measure of transfers to the poor that is nearly universally available and innately captures distribution: average daily calorie consumption. In sharp contrast to the consumption of material goods or the accumulation of wealth for which humans have shown no upper bound on their ability to achieve, biological limits make it impossible for a small number of individuals to consume most of a nation's calories. Democracies and hybrid regimes—which combine elements of autocracy and democracy—are better at translating economic growth into total calorie consumption than autocracies and perform strikingly similarly in this regard; democracies outperform both hybrid regimes and autocracies, however, in converting growth into higher quality calories from animal sources.}, language = {en} } @article{KayserLeininger, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Leininger, Arndt}, title = {Vintage errors: do real-time economic data improve election forecasts?}, series = {Research and Politics}, volume = {2}, journal = {Research and Politics}, number = {3}, publisher = {Sage}, address = {London [u.a.]}, issn = {2053-1680}, doi = {10.1177/2053168015589624}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-16321}, pages = {1 -- 11}, abstract = {Economic performance is a key component of most election forecasts. When fitting models, however, most forecasters unwittingly assume that the actual state of the economy, a state best estimated by the multiple periodic revisions to official macroeconomic statistics, drives voter behavior. The difference in macroeconomic estimates between revised and original data vintages can be substantial, commonly over 100\% (two-fold) for economic growth estimates, making the choice of which data release to use important for the predictive validity of a model. We systematically compare the predictions of four forecasting models for numerous US presidential elections using real-time and vintage data. We find that newer data are not better data for election forecasting: forecasting error increases with data revisions. This result suggests that voter perceptions of economic growth are influenced more by media reports about the economy, which are based on initial economic estimates, than by the actual state of the economy.}, language = {en} } @incollection{AnheierStanigKayser, author = {Anheier, Helmut K. and Stanig, Piero and Kayser, Mark A.}, title = {Introducing a New Generation of Governance Indicators}, series = {The Governance Report 2013}, booktitle = {The Governance Report 2013}, publisher = {Oxford Univ.Press}, address = {Oxford}, isbn = {978-0-19-967442-8}, pages = {117 -- 148}, abstract = {This Report is about the state of governance. Few would doubt that the conditions of governance have changed — and continue to change — as the early 21st century seems to enter a period of profound uncertainty. Yet, at the same time, the world seems alive with a cacophony of approaches — old and new — on how to improve governance and, ultimately, policy outcomes. This Report — the first in a series of annual editions produced by the Hertie School of Governance — seeks to address the implications of the current state of the world in terms of "good governance", that is, the effective, efficient, and reliable set of legitimate institutions and actors dedicated to dealing with matters of public concern, be it in the field of financial markets, health care, security, or migration, and across local, national, and international levels. Following an introduction that offers a framework of basic concepts and models, The Governance Report 2013 then goes on to explore a number of global challenges and the reasons behind seemingly lacklustre responses and highlight the need for responsible sovereignty; examine in depth the challenges of financial and fiscal governance with a focus on the trade-offs and ways to address them; analyse key governance innovations and their potential for success; and assess existing indicators of governance, while proposing a new framework for collecting, interpreting, and applying governance-related information. The findings lead to a set of concrete proposals on the way ahead.(About the Book)}, language = {en} } @article{KayserAbouChadi, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Abou-Chadi, Tarik}, title = {It's Not Easy Being Green: Why Voters Punish Parties for Environmental Policies in Downturns}, series = {Electoral Studies}, volume = {45}, journal = {Electoral Studies}, doi = {10.1016/j.electstud.2016.10.009}, pages = {201 -- 207}, abstract = {Recent scholarship asserts the existence of "luxury goods voting" arguing that voters penalize parties associated with post-material issues or those with long-run payoffs during economic downturns. We test this arguments here using data from four election studies in Denmark and Germany that explicitly ask respondents to rate parties on one particular luxury goods issue: protection of the environment. Voters who perceive the economy as weak indeed punish governing parties more severely when they associate them with environmental policies; conversely, a green reputation when the economy is expanding garners left-wing parties higher vote probabilities. Right-wing governing parties fare similarly, benefitting from those who perceive them as green when the economy is hale, albeit only converging to the vote probabilities awarded from voters who see them as less green when the economy sours.}, language = {en} } @article{KayserHouleXiang, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Houle, Christian and Xiang, Jun}, title = {Diffusion or Confusion? Clustered Shocks and the Conditional Diffusion of Democracy}, series = {International Organization}, volume = {70}, journal = {International Organization}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1017/S002081831600028X}, pages = {687 -- 726}, abstract = {Scholars, observing clustering in transitions to democracy, argue that democratization diffuses across borders as citizens in autocracies demand the same reforms they witness in neighboring states. We disagree. This article demonstrates that diffusion plays only a highly conditional role in democratization. We advance and test an alternative two-step theory of clustered democratization: (1) economic and international political shocks, which are clustered spatially and temporally, induce the breakdown of authoritarian regimes; then (2) democratic diffusion, in turn, influences whether a fallen dictatorship will be replaced by a democracy or a new autocracy. Diffusion, despite playing an important role, is insufficient to explain the clustering of transitions. Using data on 125 autocracies from 1875 to 2004, we show that economic crises trigger authoritarian breakdowns, while diffusion influences whether the new regime is democratic or authoritarian.}, language = {en} } @article{KayserLeininger, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Leininger, Arndt}, title = {A Predictive Test of Voters' Economic Benchmarking: The 2013 Bundestag Election}, series = {German Politics}, volume = {25}, journal = {German Politics}, number = {1}, doi = {10.1080/09644008.2015.1129531}, pages = {106 -- 130}, abstract = {Do voters judge their national economy relative to economic performance abroad? In 2013 we took advantage of the German Bundestag election to test this hypothesis predictively. Nearly two months prior to the election, we published an election forecast relying on a theory-driven empirical model of election outcomes that draws on previous election outcomes; characteristics of the government and of voters; and, most originally, the relative economic performance of Germany ('benchmarked' growth) in comparison to the three other most important economies in Europe - France, the UK and Italy. Our forecast put the outgoing coalition government of CDU/CSU and FDP at 47.05 per cent of the popular vote deviating from the actual outcome of 46.3 by 0.75 points. This makes our forecast one of the most accurate in this election cycle. Despite one-and-a-half months of lead time, our forecast performed on par or slightly better than the last poll results issued only two days before the election.}, language = {en} } @article{KayserLindstaedt, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Lindst{\"a}dt, Ren{\´e}}, title = {A Cross-National Measure of Electoral Competitiveness}, series = {Political Analysis}, volume = {23}, journal = {Political Analysis}, number = {2}, issn = {1047-1987}, doi = {10.1093/pan/mpv001}, pages = {242 -- 253}, language = {en} } @article{KayserPeress, author = {Kayser, Mark A. and Peress, Michael}, title = {Benchmarking across Borders: Electoral Accountability and the Necessity of Comparison}, series = {American Political Science Review}, volume = {106}, journal = {American Political Science Review}, number = {3}, issn = {1537-5943}, doi = {10.1017/S0003055412000275}, pages = {661 -- 684}, language = {en} } @incollection{Kayser, author = {Kayser, Mark A.}, title = {Measuring Governance: An Assessment of the Research Challenges}, series = {Governance Indicators}, booktitle = {Governance Indicators}, editor = {Anheier, Helmut K. and Haber, Matthias and Kayser, Mark A.}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, address = {Oxford}, isbn = {9780198817062}, doi = {10.1093/oso/9780198817062.003.0011}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {255 -- 269}, language = {en} }