Voting when the stakes are high

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Andersen, Jorgen Juel; Fiva, Jon H.; Natvik, Gisle James
• 署名单位: BI Norwegian Business School; Norges Bank
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2013.10.003
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 157-166
• 关键词: Voter motivation; Electoral participation; Roll-off; Pork barrel spending

摘要

Most theories of voter behavior predict that electoral participation will be higher in elections where more is at stake. We test this prediction by studying how participation is affected by exogenous variation in local governments' financial flexibility to provide pork for their voters. Utilizing simultaneous elections for different offices, we identify a positive effect of election stakes on participation: Higher stakes at the local level increase participation at the local relative to the regional election. Survey evidence indicates that the underlying mechanism relates to citizens' acquisition of information. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.