Ballot Position, Choice Fatigue, and Voter Behaviour

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Augenblick, Ned; Nicholson, Scott
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdv047
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 460-480
• 关键词: roll-off; black candidates; Direct democracy; ego depletion; INFORMATION; ORDER; PARTICIPATION; ELECTIONS; self; propositions

摘要

In this article, we examine the effect of choice fatigue on decision making. We exploit a natural experiment in which voters face the same contest at different ballot positions due to differences in the number of local issues on their ballot. Facing more decisions before a given contest significantly increases the tendency to abstain or rely on decision shortcuts, such as voting for the status quo or the first-listed candidate. We estimate that, without choice fatigue, abstentions would decrease by 8%, and 6% of the propositions in our data set would have passed rather than failed.