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The Economic Effects of Democratic Participation

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Author Info
Dennis C. Mueller ()
Thomas Stratmann ()

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Abstract

Considerable concern has been expressed in recent years about declines in voter participation rates in the United States and in several other major democratic countries. Some feel low participation rates introduce a "class bias" into the political process and thereby worsen the outcomes from it. Little empirical work exists, however, that measures the effects of lower participation on the welfare of a country. This paper begins to fill this void. It presents cross-national evidence that high levels of democratic participation are associated with more equal distributions of income. The paper's results also imply, however, that this reduction in income inequality comes at a cost. High participation rates are related to larger government sectors which in turn lead to slower economic growth. We also present evidence of the "capture" of government by upper income groups in Latin and Central American countries.

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Paper provided by CESifo Group Munich in its series CESifo Working Paper Series with number CESifo Working Paper No. 656.

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Date of creation: 2002
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Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_656

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D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General

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  1. Drosdowski, Thomas, 2005. "Democracy Deficits, Inequality and Pollution. A Politico-Economic Analysis," Diskussionspapiere der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Hannover dp-323, Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät. [Downloadable!]
  2. DUDLEY, Leonard & WITT, Ulrich, 2003. "Yesterday’s Games: Contingency Learning and the Growth of Public Spending, 1890-1938," Cahiers de recherche 2003-20, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques. [Downloadable!]
  3. Drosdowski, Thomas, 2006. "On the Link Between Democracy and Environment," Diskussionspapiere der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Hannover dp-355, Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät. [Downloadable!]
  4. Lars-Erik Borge & Torberg Falch & Per Tovmo, 2007. "Public Sector Efficiency: The Roles of Political and Budgetary Institutions, Fiscal Capacity and Democratic Participation," Working Paper Series 8407, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Chittawan Chanagul, 2009. "Democracy and Economic Development," Vienna Economics Papers 0911, University of Vienna, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Indra de Soysa & Jennifer Bailey & Eric Neumayer, 2004. "Free to Squander? Democracy, Institutional Design, and Economic Sustainability, 1975–2000," Macroeconomics 0412004, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  7. Ashoka Mody & Stefania Fabrizio, 2006. "Can Budget Institutions Counteract Political Indiscipline?," IMF Working Papers 06/123, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Seitz, Helmut, 2008. "Democratic Participation and the Size of Regions: An Empirical Study Using Data on German Counties," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  9. George Tridimas & Stanley L. Winer, 2004. "A Contribution to the Political Economy of Government Size: 'Demand', 'Supply' and 'Political Influence'," Carleton Economic Papers 04-04, Carleton University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Eileen Fumagalli and Gaia Narciso, 2008. "Political Institutions, Voter Turnout and Policy Outcomes," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp268, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
  11. Khemani, Stuti & Wane, Waly, 2008. "Populist fiscal policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4762, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  12. Ryo Arawatari, 2009. "Informatization, voter turnout and income inequality," Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 29-54, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Rainald Borck, 2005. "Voting, Inequality, and Redistribution," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 503, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Aidt, T.S. & Eterovic, D.S., 2007. "Give and Take: Political Competition, Participation and Public Finance in 20th Century Latin America," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0714, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
  15. Lawrence Kenny & Stanley Winer, 2006. "Tax Systems in the World: An Empirical Investigation into the Importance of Tax Bases, Administration Costs, Scale and Political Regime," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 181-215, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Alois Stutzer & Lukas Kienast, 2005. "Demokratische Beteiligung und Staatsausgaben: Die Auswirkungen des Frauenstimmrechts," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 141(IV), pages 617-650, December. [Downloadable!]
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  17. Simon Luechinger & Myra Rosinger & Alois Stutzer, 2006. "The Impact of Postal Voting on Participation, Evidence for Switzerland," IEW - Working Papers iewwp297, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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