Why People Vote: Ethical Motives and Social Incentives

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ali, S. Nageeb; Lin, Charles
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.5.2.73
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 73-98
• 关键词: rational turnout; reputation; pressure; CHOICE; MODEL; PARTICIPATION; motivation; committees; Extremism; calculus

摘要

Some individuals vote because they are motivated by a civic duty to do so, whereas others may vote because they wish to appear prosocial to others. This paper proposes a simple framework that captures these motivations, and provides results consistent with findings on turnout, e.g., that turnout is responsive to the expected closeness and importance of an election, to the observability of one's choice to vote, and to social rewards and punishments associated with voting. We study various extensions of this framework in which community monitoring plays a role, and explore the implications that voter mobilization has for electoral competition.