Economic Judgment

Economic judgment refers to how people evaluate their personal financial well-being and the economic situation in their community or nation. These judgments assess how conditions have changed over time and what people expect will happen in the future. Citizens might also compare the situation in their country with how well the economy in other countries is doing. This entry provides an overview of economic judgments, how we measure them, and how they impact government approval and voting behavior.

One of the earliest works to recognize the importance of economic judgments on voters’ decisions is The American Voter by Angus Campbell, Philip Converse, Warren Miller, and Donald Stokes. In it, they develop an economic outlook index that combines voters’ assessments of their family situation now and in ...