Economic Performance and U.S. Senate Elections: Reply.

Major criticisms made by G. A. Chressanthis and S. D. Shaffer (1993) are addressed: the authors' failure to include noneconomic variables in the regression model, the inclusion of open elections in the sample, and the use of variables other than the state unemployment rate as economic performance measures. Errors in Chressanthis and Shaffer's interpretations are noted. Additional regression results are reported using modifications of the authors' original model. These suggest that the change (not relative changes as in Chressanthis and Shaffer) in state unemployment rate is superior and that the authors' model yields a stronger effect of state economic performance on election outcomes than does the Chressanthis and Shaffer model. Copyright 1993 by Kluwer Academic Publishers