A large literature in macroeconomics assumes a social objective function, W(p, U), where inflation, p, and unemployment … value of a low inflation rate. It also examines the structure of happiness equations across countries and time. …

functions for left-wing and right-wing individuals where inflation and unemployment enter negatively. We use these functions to … test the root assumption of partisan business cycle models where leftwing individuals care more about unemployment relative … to inflation than rightwingers (e.g. Alesina (1987)). Bootstrap confidence intervals suggest that up to 90 per cent of …