Source: Development.ohio.gov

Since 2011, Ohio has “added 94,000 new jobs, and its unemployment rate had fallen from 9 percent to 7.3. (The most recent data pushed the total number of new jobs to more than 122,000, with the unemployment rate holding at 7.2 percent — more than a full point below the national average.)”  So who should get credit for this economic improvement?

Matt Bai shows both Democratic President Obama and Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich both are claiming credit. Menwhile, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is trying to win votes saying there has not been an economic recovery in Ohio.

Who cares, one might ask—politicians claim credit to bolster their re-election chances and burnish their images.  Bai argues the answer to this question has political salience: in short, if Obama can persuade Ohio that he helped it recover, he might win the state and the presidential election. (Whoever wins Ohio has won the past 11 presidential elections.) Beyond this not insignificant political matter, there is the policy question of economic stimulus.  Did it work, and to what degree… (read more)