"The Political Process" Please respond to the following:
•Explain the role that political parties play in political equilibrium. Identify if more
parties mean a better equilibrium. Justify your response.
Political parties pay a major role in the political equilibrium because the parties are
comprised of individuals with the similar objectives that wish to advocate the government
infrastructure to assist in changing policies. The unity of these political parties gives them
leverage when influencing politicians to make changes. More parties do not necessarily
mean better equilibrium. If additional parties emerged then their would be an emergence of
broader issues that each party would want to adjust, as a result some public goods that benefit
all wouldn't accomplish that task. Political equilibrium involves an agreement on the amount
of production of one or more public goods, with the specified rule for the decision along with
providing tax shares. Political parties are constantly creating awareness to political views and
the process. Introducing additional political parties will influence political outcomes, but I not
complete sold on the idea that creating additional parties promotes a better equilibrium.
Democratic societies use various voting procedures to decide on public expenditures.
Polotical parties help the voters to cast their votes and voice their issues or concerns through
political parties. If there were only one political party, it would be difficult for the voters to
show their preferences on public policy and it becomes very tough for the elected
represetatives to understand what the voters really want. More parties would mean that more
public preferences/issues can be contested in the political election and this would be a good
representation fo all the people's problems/issues/preferences for the public good.
On the political spectrum, parties whether it be in a direct or representative system are made
to be the voice of the people concerning a bevy of issues in their daily lives. The verdict is
still out on whether or not more parties mean a better equilibrium, in the States we basically
have a 2 party system in which a few may argue that not all views are represented or even
accounted for. And then you have European countries that have multiple parties trying to
represent all views and opinions across the board, some would argue that in the myriad of
parties the true essence of issues may seem to get lost.
•As presented in the text, logrolling assumes no transaction costs. Describe logrolling in
your own words and explain how the existence of transaction costs would prevent
logrolling.
Problem with simple majority voting is that it does not allow people to register how strongly
they feel about the issues. Whether a particular voter just barely prefers A to B or has an
enormous preference for A has no influence on the outcome. Logrolling systems allow people
to trade votes and hence register how strongly they feel about various issues. Suppose that
voters Smith and Jones prefer not to have more missiles, but they don't care all that much.
Brown, on the other hand, definitely wants more missiles. With a logrolling system, Brown
may be able to convince Jones to vote for more missiles if Brown promises to vote for a new
road to go by Jones's factory.
With the current US Budget debates, because of the political process that has evolved for so
many years, we have differing views on how the fiscal deficit could be brought down.
Congressional Republican leaders are calling for immediate steep cuts in spending, while
President Obama in his State of the Union address called for a five-year freeze on
discretionary spending, which would be a much more gradual approach. The cuts that are
being proposed by the Republicans could have a direct impact on the lives of many
Americans. If enacted, they would result in reduced funding in everything from job training
programs to community healthcare centers. Where as if we delay this freeze on discretionary
spending, the fiscal deficit will keep on mounting. The New York Times reports that the U.S.
federal budget deficit will widen to $1.5 trillion this year. So, there are both sides of
arguments/debates that need to be weighed correctly in the light of American's public interest
and also the impact on US/world economy and political process is surely a good tool in this
whole debate to smoothly arrive at a political consensus and decision.
Logrolling is the trading of votes on issues of great interest to voters. That is to say, such
votes trading by electorates is use to obtain choice of actions of interest to each voter.
Generally, whenever two or more issues are being considered by voters at the same time
voters are then confronted with a choice of which package will maximize the best political
equilibrium by analyzing and comparing both the favorable and the unfavorable aspect of the
deal. With more convincing facts (say, well meaningful information) about one as against the
other voters, voters will opt for those they strongly believe are favorable. When opinion
differs on the issues at stake, this will provide evidence for some of the members of the voters
to trade votes for those issues of great interest to them. Sometimes logrolling arises out of
asymmetric information that may cause some people to gain and other to lose. The gravity of
voters preference bring about logrolling and give rise to issue that may never have been
selected (Hyman, 2011).
Logrolling is when multiple issues are joined together and voted on at one time. This will
allow things to get passed that otherwise would not pass on their own. It also allows for a
more balanced bill. The legislators will usually add things to bills that will further their
agenda in exchange for a yes vote. This allows for the bill to get passed. You sometimes will
hear of a bill that is full of pork. This happens because of logrolling. Everyone adding in their
pet projects to a large bill to ensure that they get something from it.
References
Hyman, D. N. (2011). Public Finance. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning.
http://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/budget-debate-how-wouldyou-balance-federal-budget.