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Do People Care about Democracy? An Experiment Exploring the Value of Voting Rights

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  • Guth, Werner
  • Weck-Hannemann, Hannelore

Abstract

In almost all democratic national elections, an individual vote cannot change the election outcome. The fact that many individuals nevertheless participate voluntarily in such elections suggests that people do care about democracy as such. This experiment investigates the value of democratic voting rights by providing participants the chance to sell them. More specifically, an incentive compatible mechanism is used to elicit the willingness-to-accept value of the voting right in the election of the Germany Bundestag on 16 October 1994. A postexperimental questionnaire makes it possible to assess the relative importance of answers to the frequently raised question: why do people vote? Copyright 1997 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

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  • Guth, Werner & Weck-Hannemann, Hannelore, 1997. "Do People Care about Democracy? An Experiment Exploring the Value of Voting Rights," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 91(1), pages 27-47, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:91:y:1997:i:1:p:27-47
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Tyran, Jean-Robert, 2004. "Voting when money and morals conflict: an experimental test of expressive voting," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1645-1664, July.
    2. Arthur J. H. C. Schram, 2008. "Experimental Public Choice," Springer Books, in: Readings in Public Choice and Constitutional Political Economy, chapter 32, pages 579-591, Springer.
    3. Saito, Hiroharu, 2022. "Loss aversion for the value of voting rights: WTA/WTP ratios for a ballot," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Lina Restrepo-Plaza & Enrique Fatas, 2023. "Building inclusive institutions in polarized scenarios," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 88-110, March.
    5. Frank Daumann & Alfred Wassermann, 2009. "Does trading votes in national elections change election outcomes?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 429-441, June.
    6. Dittmann, Ingolf & Kübler, Dorothea & Maug, Ernst & Mechtenberg, Lydia, 2014. "Why votes have value: Instrumental voting with overconfidence and overestimation of others' errors," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 17-38.
    7. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:4:p:517-533 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Tom R. Tyler, 1997. "Procedural Fairness and Compliance with the Law," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 133(II), pages 219-240, June.
    9. Beath, A. & BenYishay, A. & d’Adda, G. & Grosjean, P. & Weber, R.A., 2018. "Can vouchers reduce elite capture of local development projects? Experimental evidence from the Solomon Islands," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 117-131.
    10. Daniel A. DeCaro & Marci S. DeCaro & Jared M. Hotaling & Joseph G. Johnson, 2020. "Procedural and economic utilities in consequentialist choice: Trading freedom of choice to minimize financial losses," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(4), pages 517-533, July.

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