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Party Formation and Competition

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  • Daniel Ladley
  • James Rockey

Abstract

In the majority of democratic political systems, districts elect representatives, who form coalitions, which determine policies. In this paper we present a model which captures this process: A citizen-candidate model with multiple policy dimensions in which elected representatives endogenously choose to form parties. Numerical analysis shows that in equilibrium this model produces qualitatively realistic outcomes which replicate key features of cross-country empirical data, including variation consistent with Duverger's law. The numbers of policy dimensions and representatives elected per district are shown to determine the number, size, and relative locations of parties. Whilst multi-member district systems are found to reduce welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Ladley & James Rockey, 2010. "Party Formation and Competition," Discussion Papers in Economics 10/17, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised Mar 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:lec:leecon:10/17
    as

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    File URL: https://www.le.ac.uk/economics/research/RePEc/lec/leecon/dp10-17.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Citizen-Candidate Model; Political Competition; Party Formation; Duverger’s Law; Computer Simulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques

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