Presidents and the Economic Agenda

Abstract

The president’s ability to influence the national policy agenda is an important component of presidential power. Although some maintain that presidents are favorably situated to set agendas, others demonstrate that the president’s agenda-setting skills vary considerably by policy area. What is more, scholars have yet to examine the impact presidents have had focusing attention on the economy, an issue of vital importance to their political success. Extending previous research on presidential agenda setting that did not address economic policy (Edwards and Wood 1999; Wood and Peake 1998), we test the impact that the president’s public statements on the economy have on media and congressional attention to the economy. Using Vector Autoregression (VAR), we demonstrate that although presidents have some influence over the economic agenda, presidents are primarily responsive to media coverage of the economy.

Putting on the Brakes or Pressing on the Gas? Media Attention and the Speed of Policymaking

“…In changing the salience of an issue, the media can aid in the prioritization process that leads to changes in what issues are considered on the formal agenda. Many studies have shown that media attention can set the agenda of policymaking institutions, such as Congress and the presidency (e.g., Baumgartner & Jones, 1993; Edwards & Wood, 1999; Eshbaugh‐Soha & Peake, 2005; Peake & Eshbaugh‐Soha, 2008). Others have demonstrated that the agenda‐setting effects of issue salience are conditioned by certain characteristics of issues, such as its obtrusiveness or previous levels of salience (Soroka, 2002; Walgrave & Van Aelst, 2006; Wood & Peake, 1998).…”

The President as Agenda Setter‐in‐Chief: The Dynamics of Congressional and Presidential Agenda Setting

“…For the most part, the findings illustrate a Congress that acts in isolation, unlikely to lead or follow at the agenda‐setting stage. Following the vector autoregression (VAR) techniques employed by Edwards and Wood (), Eshbaugh‐Soha and Peake () found the president's leadership of either congressional or media attention to economic policy to be limited. On the contrary, the findings suggest presidential responsiveness to both media and congressional attention to broad economic issues.…”

“…The ability to influence the institutional policy agenda, those issues that receive considerable attention from decision makers, has long been considered one of the most important sources of political power (Anderson, ; Baumgartner & Jones, ; Cobb & Elder, ; Downs, ; Edwards & Wood, ; Flemming, Wood, & Bohte, ; Jones, ; Kingdon, ; Light, ; Peters & Hogwood, ; Walker, ), especially for the president (Bond & Fleischer, ; Edwards, ; Edwards & Barrett, ). Some recent theoretical development has occurred concerning this question, asserting the issue‐dependent nature of the relationships while questioning the president's leadership at the agenda stage (Edwards & Wood, ; Eshbaugh‐Soha & Peake, , ; Peake, ).…”

“…As previously stated, most of the research on institutional agenda leaders and followers has focused on the dynamic relationship between the president and the media (Edwards & Wood, ; Eshbaugh‐Soha & Peake, , ; Peake, ; Peake & Eshbaugh‐Soha, ). The findings across these scholarly works largely support presidential agenda leadership of the media and reciprocal president–media agenda relationships.…”

“…Broad presidential leadership of Congress is less supported by the existing research. Although some scholars find that Congress largely operates in isolation (Edwards & Wood, ), others document congressional agenda leadership in economic policy (Eshbaugh‐Soha & Peake, ) and the foreign policy issue areas of the Caribbean and Central America in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Peake, ). We seek to add to the agenda‐setting literature by bringing new data, more years of analysis, and more issue areas into the discussion to examine these interinstitutional agenda dynamics.…”