To vote or to abstain? An experimental study or first past the poste and PR elections
Abstract
We examine through an experimental design how rational and non-rational considerations affect the decision to vote or to abstain in First Past the Post and PR elections. We show that in both types of elections, but particularly so under PR, a majority of subjects do not make the "right" decision, that is, they do not choose the option that is the most beneficial to them, given. We also demonstrate that a social norm such as sense of civic duty plays a bigger role, even in the lab, and particularly so in PR elections. We suggest that civic duty has a greater impact under PR because this electoral system has a more complicated formula, making it more difficult for voters to realize that their vote is unlikely to substantially affect the outcome of the election.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by HAL in its series Working Papers with number hal-00616823.Length:
Date of creation: 24 Aug 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00616823
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00616823/en/
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/
Related research
Keywords: Experiments; Voting; First Past the Post; Proportional Representation; Civic Duty;This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2011-09-16 (All new papers)
- NEP-CDM-2011-09-16 (Collective Decision-Making)
- NEP-EVO-2011-09-16 (Evolutionary Economics)
- NEP-EXP-2011-09-16 (Experimental Economics)
- NEP-POL-2011-09-16 (Positive Political Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease 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.:
- Francesco Sinopoli & Giovanna Iannantuoni, 2007.
"A spatial voting model where proportional rule leads to two-party equilibria,"
International Journal of Game Theory,
Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 267-286, January.
- Francesco De Sinopoli & Giovanna Iannantuoni, 2003. "A Spatial Voting Model Where Proportional Rule Leads to Two-Party Equilibria," CEIS Research Paper 31, Tor Vergata University, CEIS.
- DE SINOPOLI, Francesco & IANNANTUONI, Giovanna & ,, 2000. "A spatial voting model where proportional rule leads to two-party equilibria," CORE Discussion Papers 2000037, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
- De Sinopoli, Francesco & Ferraris, Leo & Iannantuoni, Giovanna, 2011.
"The effect of ideology on policy outcomes in proportional representation systems,"
Mathematical Social Sciences,
Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 87-90, September.
- Francesco de Sinopoli & Leo Ferraris & Giovanna Iannantuoni, 2011. "The effect of ideology on policy outcomes in proportional representation systems," Working Papers 205, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2011.
- Arthur Schram & John Sonnemans, 2001.
"Voter Turnout as a Participation Game: An Experimental Investigation,"
Levine's Working Paper Archive
563824000000000033, David K. Levine.
- Schram, Arthur & Sonnemans, Joep, 1996. "Voter Turnout as a Participation Game: An Experimental Investigation," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 385-406.
- Markus Mobius & Raphael Schoenle, 2006.
"The Evolution of Work,"
Working Papers
25, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Businesss School.
- Markus Mobius & Raphael Schoenle, 2006. "The Evolution of Work," NBER Working Papers 12694, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Schram, Arthur & Sonnemans, Joep, 1996. "Why people vote: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 417-442, August.
- John Duffy & Margit Tavits, 2006. "Beliefs and Voting Decisions: A Test of the Pivotal Voter Model," Working Papers 273, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics, revised May 2007.
Citations
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00616823For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (CCSD).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.