The Personalisation of Economic Voting

An explanation of economic voting that emphasizes the conditioning effect of candidates is proposed in this paper. The current trend towards the presidentialization of politics has created a ‘personalization of economic voting’. Candidates rather than parties or governments are held accountable for economic performance. Using data from OECD countries in two consecutive elections before and after the beginning of the Great Recession, I show that there is a stronger economic vote the greater the powers of the Prime Minister, when the candidate for the incumbent party is male and when the outgoing Prime Minister or President runs in the upcoming election.