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Partially Binding Platforms and the Advantages of Being an Extreme Candidate

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  • Yasushi Asako

    (Economist, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan (E-mail: yasushi.asako@boj.or.jp))

Abstract

This paper develops a political-competition model in which platforms are partially binding: a candidate who implements a policy that is different from her platform must pay a cost of betrayal that increases with the size of the discrepancy. I also suppose that voters are uncertain about candidate preferences for policies. If voters believe that a candidate is likely to be extreme, there exists a semiseparating equilibrium: an extreme candidate mimics a moderate candidate with some probability, and with the remaining probability, he announces a platform that commits to the implementation of a more moderate policy. Although an extreme candidate will implement a more extreme policy than a moderate candidate in equilibrium, partial pooling ensures that voters prefer an extreme candidate who does not pretend to be moderate over an uncertain candidate announcing a moderate candidate's platform. As a result, a moderate candidate never has a higher probability of winning than an extreme one.

Suggested Citation

  • Yasushi Asako, 2010. "Partially Binding Platforms and the Advantages of Being an Extreme Candidate," IMES Discussion Paper Series 10-E-07, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    • Handle: RePEc:ime:imedps:10-e-07
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    File URL: http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/research/papers/english/10-E-07.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Yasushi Asako, 2010. "Partially Binding Platforms: Political Promises as a Partial Commitment Device," IMES Discussion Paper Series 10-E-01, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
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    Cited by:

    1. Scott Gehlbach & Konstantin Sonin & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "Businessman Candidates," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(3), pages 718-736, July.
    2. Yasushi Asako, 2010. "Partially Binding Platforms: Political Promises as a Partial Commitment Device," IMES Discussion Paper Series 10-E-01, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electoral Competition; Campaign Promise; Signaling Game;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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