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Representative versus Direct Democracy: The Role of Informational Asymmetries Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics Kessler, Anke
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The Paper studies the relative merits of direct and representative legislation in a setting where voters are uncertain both with respect to the likely consequences of different policies and with respect to the political preferences of their fellow citizens. Under representative legislation, the latter translates into uncertainty on the elected official’s future policy intentions, which involves a loss of control. The resulting discretionary power, however, also leads officials to endogenously acquire competence on the issues they oversee and specialize in policy formation. Policies determined in representative democracies are therefore better tailored to relevant contingencies but less close to the preferences of a majority than those determined in popular ballots. It is shown that the extent of the resulting trade-off depends on the set of alternatives among which the policy is to be chosen. Two extensions, referenda and the possibility of re-election, are briefly considered.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
3911.
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Date of creation: May 2003Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3911Contact details of provider: Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 53--56 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DG Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801 Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820
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Keywords: constitutional choice ; delegation ; direct democracy ; representative democracy ; Other versions of this item:
Find related papers by JEL classification: D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy-Making and Implementation
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references Cited by : (explanations , Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile , click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Christian Schultz, 2003.
"Information, Polarization and Delegation in Democracy ,"
CESifo Working Paper Series
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Simon Hug, 2009.
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Other versions: Lars P. Feld & Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2004.
"The Role of Direct Democracy in the European Union ,"
Marburg Working Papers on Economics
200423, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
[Downloadable!]
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