James E. Alt

This book originally published in 1979, deals with popular perceptions and expectations of economic trends, popular preferences among economic policies, and the relationships between these and broader aspects of political behaviour like voting, attachment to the party system, and political and social attitudes. The economy has long been held to be a critical determinant of the ability of governments to gain election. This book provides unique evidence about popular expectations of inflation, evaluation of economic management, and preferences among competing economic goals and policies, without which the connection between economic management and electoral success cannot be understood. At the same time, by dealing extensively with electoral survey data for Britain since 1964, the book provides a contemporary history of electoral and political behaviour in an age of unprecedented economic management.

Richard D. McKelvey was a pioneer in the use of mathematical modeling for understanding the nature of political choices. Positive Changes in Political Science brings together his most important articles, accompanied by original essays from contemporary political scientists, some his colleagues or students, who reflect upon his contributions, their continuing relevance today, and how they are still shaping research for the future." Richard McKelvey's fundamental contributions to the foundations of political choice and to model-based empirical research are brought together in this volume. Their value is greatly enhanced by the perspectives provided by outstanding scholars."---Kenneth J. Arrow, Stanford University"If there were a Nobel Prize in Political Science, the late Richard McKelvey's name would have been high on the short list. This outstanding book shows why, by presenting McKelvey's original work on seven major contributions to the discipline, along with interpretive essays by numerous major scholars. This book is the essential McKelvey."---William R. Keech, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, Carnegie Mellon University"Richard McKelvey made brilliant contributions to political science. This volume collects some of his most important papers and includes perspectives and comments on his work by noted scholars. It is a valuable resource for students and researchers."---Thomas Romer, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University"This excellent collection of essays, conjoined with reprinted papers by McKelvey, documents the continuing influence of one of the seminal forces in modern political science. High-quality commentaries on some of the most important published papers in political science highlight both McKelvey's empirical and theoretical contributions, and argue that McKelvey did indeed provide the building blocks for the research agendas being pursued today."---Gary Miller, Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. LouisJohn H. Aldrich is Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science at Duke University. Visit the author's website at: www.duke.edu/~aldrich/. James E. Alt is Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government at Harvard University. Visit the author's website at: www.gov.harvard.edu/faculty/jalt/. Arthur Lupia is Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research, and Principal Investigator of the American National Election Studies. Visit the author's website at: www.umich.edu/~lupia.

Richard D. McKelvey was a pioneer in the use of mathematical modeling for understanding the nature of political choices. Positive Changes in Political Science brings together his most important articles, accompanied by original essays from contemporary political scientists, some his colleagues or students, who reflect upon his contributions, their continuing relevance today, and how they are still shaping research for the future." Richard McKelvey's fundamental contributions to the foundations of political choice and to model-based empirical research are brought together in this volume. Their value is greatly enhanced by the perspectives provided by outstanding scholars."---Kenneth J. Arrow, Stanford University"If there were a Nobel Prize in Political Science, the late Richard McKelvey's name would have been high on the short list. This outstanding book shows why, by presenting McKelvey's original work on seven major contributions to the discipline, along with interpretive essays by numerous major scholars. This book is the essential McKelvey."---William R. Keech, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, Carnegie Mellon University"Richard McKelvey made brilliant contributions to political science. This volume collects some of his most important papers and includes perspectives and comments on his work by noted scholars. It is a valuable resource for students and researchers."---Thomas Romer, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University"This excellent collection of essays, conjoined with reprinted papers by McKelvey, documents the continuing influence of one of the seminal forces in modern political science. High-quality commentaries on some of the most important published papers in political science highlight both McKelvey's empirical and theoretical contributions, and argue that McKelvey did indeed provide the building blocks for the research agendas being pursued today."---Gary Miller, Professor of Political Science, Washington University in St. LouisJohn H. Aldrich is Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science at Duke University. Visit the author's website at: www.duke.edu/~aldrich/. James E. Alt is Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government at Harvard University. Visit the author's website at: www.gov.harvard.edu/faculty/jalt/. Arthur Lupia is Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research, and Principal Investigator of the American National Election Studies. Visit the author's website at: www.umich.edu/~lupia.