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2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The Political Economy of Deflation: Prices, Public Opinion, and Governance

Research Project

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Project/Area Number 17H02478
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Politics
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

MCELWAIN KENNETH  東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 教授 (80768896)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) 加藤 淳子  東京大学, 大学院法学政治学研究科(法学部), 教授 (00251314)
松本 朋子  東京理科大学, 理学部第一部教養学科, 講師 (50783601)
Project Period (FY) 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
Keywordsデフレーション / 経済認識 / 政党支持 / 政府業績評価 / コロナ政策 / 憲法改正
Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Japanese government has made overcoming deflation a cornerstone of its economic policies, but price increases may not be popular with voters, making such policies politically risky. Using historical public opinion data, we showed that real price increases negatively affect voters’ perceptions of the state of the economy, which in turn also negatively impact cabinet approval rates. In addition, we designed survey experiments to show that subjective perceptions of the economy are influenced by economic news, such as the release of official GDP data, regardless of respondents’ partisanship. We also examined how COVID-19 altered citizens’ economic behaviors through original surveys.

Free Research Field

政治学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

民主主義政府は世論に耳を傾ける必要があるが、その結果、長期的には社会経済的利益を生むが短期的には有権者の批判を受ける政策の実施を躊躇する恐れがある。例えば、インフレ予想は民間消費を刺激し、企業投資を活発化させるが、有権者は物価上昇を嫌う傾向がある。本プロジェクトでは、既存の調査データや独自の世論調査実験を用いて、国民が主観的に経済をどのように捉え、経済政策の目標をどのように評価しているのかを検証し、なぜ政府は長期的な繁栄をもたらす政策を必ずしも優先しないかを明らかにする。

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Published: 2022-01-27  

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