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Centrist’S Curse? An Electoral Competition Model With Credibility Constraints

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  • SELIM JÜRGEN ERGUN

    (Middle East Technical University, Northern Cyprus Campus, Economics Program, Kalkanli (Güzelyurt), TRNC, Turkey)

Abstract

I analyze a model of electoral competition in which candidates’ need of credibility restricts their policy choice to a subset of the policy space, their ideology set. I focus on three party competition where candidates care about winning and their share of votes. I show that centrist parties are highly disadvantaged compared to leftist and rightist ones losing the election under a wide range of parameters. I also show that centrist parties’ winning opportunities increase under a run-off system.

Suggested Citation

  • Selim Jürgen Ergun, 2015. "Centrist’S Curse? An Electoral Competition Model With Credibility Constraints," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 60(05), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:60:y:2015:i:05:n:s0217590815500551
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590815500551
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electoral competition; plurality; run-off; credibility; spatial models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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