Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that the act of voting makes people more positive toward the party or candidate they have voted for. Following Mullainathan and Washington (2009), I test this prediction by using exogenous variation in turnout provided by the voting age restriction. I improve on previous studies by investigating political attitudes, measured just before elections, when they are highly predictive of voting. In contrast to earlier studies I find no effect of voting on political attitudes. This result holds for a variety of political attitudes and for both Sweden and the United States.
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Paper provided by Research Institute of Industrial Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number
802.
Length: 25 pages Date of creation: 22 Jun 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0802
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Find related papers by JEL classification: B59 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Other C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
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