A Note on the Determinants of Public Dissatisfaction with Government: Economic and Political Factors Affecting the Public’s Attitude toward Government

Abstract

This study empirically identifies both the economic and political determinants of the public’s dissatisfaction with government in the United States. Using annual survey data on the public’s dissatisfaction with government obtained for the years 1965–1996, it is found that the Vietnam War, Watergate, oil price shocks and higher federal marginal income tax rates resulted in elevated levels of the public’s dissatisfaction with government, whereas increases in housing prices and a rising Dow Jones industrial average reduced the public’s dissatisfaction with the government.