Do voters punish politicians who increase budget deficits and saddle future generations with debt? According to one research paper, yes, they do. Adi Brender (Bank of Israel) and Allan Drazen (University of Maryland) crunched data from 23 nations on budgets and the electoral fortunes of chief executives, who voters tend to view as responsible for fiscal stewardship. Their unambiguous finding was that “increased deficits during an incumbent’s term in office, especially in election years, reduce the probability that a leader is re-elected”…. (Read more)