I always wondered whether the stereotypes of democrats as tax-and-spend liberals and republicans as efficient, fiscally responsible, small government republicans had any truth. Now, I have found the real answer from a variety of sources. First, Jacques Distler a physicist from the University of Texas at Austin evaluates how fiscally conservative democratic and republican administrations have been and what kind of GDP growth they have been able to achieve. He gets into the nuances, but I prefer to present just the summary here.
1. Fiscal Budget Deficits
Contrary to the notion that democrats are not fiscally responsible, it is the republicans who consistently put this country deeper and deeper into debt. How this stereotype holds in the presence of such overwhelming data astounds me. It is simply astonishing for such myths to persist.
2. GDP Growth
Once again, democratic administrations consistently outperform periods of republican rule in terms of GDP growth by 1%+/year. That is beyond any expectations I had. Democrats are and clearly have been better for economic growth. All this supply-side economics what says you have to give tax cuts to the rich to stimulate economic growth is bogus.
3. Income Growth
Alan Blinder from Princeton wrote a great article at The New York Times showing how everybody shared the economic growth equally during democratic administrations while people in higher income brackets benefit the most from republican administrations.
How can so many economically sane people vote for republicans despite their sub-par record on economic development? That will be a subject of another post.
1. Fiscal Budget Deficits
Contrary to the notion that democrats are not fiscally responsible, it is the republicans who consistently put this country deeper and deeper into debt. How this stereotype holds in the presence of such overwhelming data astounds me. It is simply astonishing for such myths to persist.
2. GDP GrowthOnce again, democratic administrations consistently outperform periods of republican rule in terms of GDP growth by 1%+/year. That is beyond any expectations I had. Democrats are and clearly have been better for economic growth. All this supply-side economics what says you have to give tax cuts to the rich to stimulate economic growth is bogus.
3. Income Growth
Alan Blinder from Princeton wrote a great article at The New York Times showing how everybody shared the economic growth equally during democratic administrations while people in higher income brackets benefit the most from republican administrations.
How can so many economically sane people vote for republicans despite their sub-par record on economic development? That will be a subject of another post.
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