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Candidate Ballot Information and Election Outcomes: The Czech Case

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  • Jurajda, Štepán

    (CERGE-EI)

  • Münich, Daniel

    (CERGE-EI)

Abstract

We measure the importance of candidate characteristics listed on ballots for a candidate's position on a slate, for preferential votes received by a candidate, and, ultimately, for getting elected. We focus on the effects of gender, various types of academic titles, and also several novel properties of candidates' names. Using data on over 200 thousand candidates competing in recent Czech municipal board and regional legislature elections, and conditioning on slate fixed effects, we find ballot cues to play a stronger role in small municipalities than in large cities and regions, despite the general agreement on higher candidate salience in small municipalities. We also quantify the election advantage of a slate being randomly listed first on a ballot.

Suggested Citation

  • Jurajda, Štepán & Münich, Daniel, 2014. "Candidate Ballot Information and Election Outcomes: The Czech Case," IZA Discussion Papers 8691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8691
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jurajda, Stepán & Münich, Daniel, 2010. "Admission to selective schools, alphabetically," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 1100-1109, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Däubler, Thomas & Linek, Lukáš, 2024. "Party selectors, voters, and the choice of productive representatives under different types of list proportional representation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Lucie Coufalová & Štěpán Mikula & Michal Ševčík, 2023. "Homophily in voting behavior: Evidence from preferential voting," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 281-300, May.
    3. Lukas Linek & Michael Skvrnak & Michal Soltes & Vitezslav Titl, 2024. "Czech Political Candidate and Donation Datasets," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp790, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. Jekaterina Kuliomina, 2018. "Does Election of an Additional Female Councilor Increase Women's Candidacy in the Future?," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 15(1), pages 37-81, June.
    5. Lucie Coufalová & Štěpán Mikula, 2023. "The grass is not greener on the other side: the role of attention in voting behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 205-223, January.
    6. Klara Svitakova & Michal Soltes, 2020. "Sorting of Candidates: Evidence from 20,000 Electoral Ballots," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp652, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    7. Jan Palguta, 2015. "Political Rent-Seeking in Public Procurement: Evidence from the Entry of Political Challengers at Electoral Thresholds," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp549, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    8. Däubler, Thomas & Linek, Lukáš, 2024. "Party selectors, voters, and the choice of productive representatives under different types of list proportional representation," MPRA Paper 122594, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ballot order effects; low-information elections; name properties;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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