POLITICAL-PARTIES AND THE SUPPLY-SIDE OF THE ECONOMY - THE PROVISION OF PHYSICAL AND HUMAN-CAPITAL IN ADVANCED ECONOMIES, 1960-90

Theory: Partisan tenure of government (in contrast to institutionalist and structural approaches) is used to explain the nature of governmen tal strategies to affect the supply side of the economy-the provision of the input factors, capital and labor. Hypotheses: Supply-side econo mic strategies are a function of the party in office. Left-wing govern ments spend heavily in physical and human capital formation to raise t he productivity of factors and the competitiveness of the economy. Rig ht-wing governments rely instead on private agents to maximize economi c growth. The organization of the domestic political economy and the i nternational economy, which place heavy limits on the capacity of part ies to affect the conduct of macroeconomic policies, hardly constrain the choice of supply-side economic strategies. Methods: Regression ana lysis of data for levels of public spending on gross fixed capital for mation and on education in OECD nations from 1960 to 1990. Results: Su pply-side policies conform to partisan preferences throughout the peri od examined. The institutional configuration of the economy affected p olicies jointly with government partisanship until the oil shock but n ot afterwards. Economic openness does not constrain the choice of supp ly-side policies.