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Elections as Targeting Contests

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  • César Martinelli

Abstract

This paper develops a model of electoral turnout where parties compensate voters for showing up to the polls. Existence and uniqueness conditions are shown to impose substantial restrictions on the uncertainty about partisan support faced by the parties, and on the distribution of voting costs among citizens. The model predicts that voters in the minority will be more likely to vote, and that turnout increases with the importance of the election. The model can generate the observed correlation between election closeness and electoral turnout, lthough the cause of this correlation may depend on the distribution of voting costs.
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Suggested Citation

  • César Martinelli, 2006. "Elections as Targeting Contests," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000001280, UCLA Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:cla:levrem:122247000000001280
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    File URL: http://ciep.itam.mx/~martinel/contests3.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Barry Nalebuff & Ron Shachar, 1999. "Follow the Leader: Theory and Evidence on Political Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 525-547, June.
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    6. Jack Hirshleifer, 1989. "Conflict and rent-seeking success functions: Ratio vs. difference models of relative success," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Arye L. Hillman & Kai A. Konrad (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 1, pages 251-262, Springer.
    7. Stephen Coate & Michael Conlin, 2004. "A Group Rule–Utilitarian Approach to Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1476-1504, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guillermo Rosas & Noel P Johnston & Kirk Hawkins, 2014. "Local public goods as vote-purchasing devices? Persuasion and mobilization in the choice of clientelist payments," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(4), pages 573-598, October.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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