Did you know this about the economy?

Source: "Presidents and the Economy: A Forensic Investigation" via
"Causality and Policy Outcomes: The Case of Presidents and Economic Growth"

 I can't prove it, but I would be good money that all Democratic and all Republican candidates for president since World War II have claimed that their party's economic policies were better than those of the other party. That is, no candidate would stand up and say "elect me and I will probably deliver less economic prosperity than would my opponent."

So how have the Republican presidents done in comparison with the Democratic presidents. The graph shows GDP growth for 28 years of Democratic administrations and 36 years of Republican administrations.

During the 64 years that make up these 16 [presidential] terms, real GDP growth averaged 3.33% at an annual rate. But the average growth rates under Democratic and Republican presidents were starkly different: 4.35% and 2.54% respectively.

Roger Pielke Jr.suggests that there are problems with the analysis, but is your belief in the claims of economic policy superiority by Republicans reduced by the data? Mine is!