Pro-social preferences and the paradox of voting

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bangum, Christine T.; Geys, Benny; Sorensen, Rune J.
• 署名单位: BI Norwegian Business School
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105479
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Calculus of voting; Civic duty; voter turnout; altruism; norway

摘要

Why do people vote in large elections? Theoretical arguments to resolve this paradox of voting often emphasize individuals' pro-social motivations, which make turnout decisions less sensitive to the pivot probability. Using Norwegian population-wide register data, we test this argument by leveraging population-size shocks from inter-municipal mobility and proxying pro-social motivations via individuals' charitable donations. We find that increasing electorate size widens the turnout gap between more/less pro-social individuals, and that turnout of pro-social individuals responds less to population-size shocks. Simulated municipality-level pivot probabilities suggest the (expected) probability of influencing election outcomes as a driving force behind these findings.