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Do voters vote in line with their policy preferences? The role of information

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  • Nordin, Mattias

    (Uppsala Center for Fiscal Studies)

Abstract

This paper investigates how information a ects voting behavior. Speci cally, I test (i) if more informed voters are better at voting for their most preferred politicians and (ii) if this translates into a bias on the aggregate level. To do so, I use a set of Swedish individual survey data on the preferences for public spending of both politicians and voters, which provides an opportunity to investigate how information affects voters' ability to match their preferences with those of the politicians. The results support both hypotheses: more informed voters are more likely to vote for their most preferred politicians, and on the aggregate level, I find that the left-wing parties would have received 1 to 3 percentage points fewer votes if all voters had been fully informed.

Suggested Citation

  • Nordin, Mattias, 2010. "Do voters vote in line with their policy preferences? The role of information," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2010:15, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:uufswp:2010_015
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    File URL: http://ucfs.nek.uu.se/digitalAssets/129/129586_201015.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Per Pettersson-Lidbom, 2008. "Do Parties Matter for Economic Outcomes? A Regression-Discontinuity Approach," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(5), pages 1037-1056, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Christopher Jeffords, 2014. "Preference-directed regulation when ethical environmental policy choices are formed with limited information," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 573-606, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Voting behavior; Information; Vote aggregation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • H71 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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