Do voters vote ideologically?☆ Export

@article{citeulike:5142699, abstract = {In this paper we address the following question: To what extent is the hypothesis that voters vote ” ideologically” (i.e., they always vote for the candidate who is ideologically ” closest” to them) testable or falsifiable? We show that using data only on how individuals vote in a single election, the hypothesis that voters vote ideologically is irrefutable, regardless of the number of candidates competing in the election. On the other hand, using data on how the same individuals vote in multiple elections, the hypothesis that voters vote ideologically is potentially falsifiable, and we provide general conditions under which the hypothesis can be tested.}, author = {Degan, Arianna and Merlo, Antonio}, citeulike-article-id = {5142699}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2008.10.008}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022053109000799}, day = {04}, doi = {10.1016/j.jet.2008.10.008}, issn = {00220531}, journal = {Journal of Economic Theory}, keywords = {election, electoral\_competition, political\_economy}, month = {September}, number = {5}, pages = {1868--1894}, posted-at = {2009-08-22 13:24:21}, priority = {4}, title = {Do voters vote ideologically?☆}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2008.10.008}, volume = {144}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5142699 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5142699 N2 - In this paper we address the following question: To what extent is the hypothesis that voters vote “ideologically” (i.e., they always vote for the candidate who is ideologically “closest” to them) testable or falsifiable? We show that using data only on how individuals vote in a single election, the hypothesis that voters vote ideologically is irrefutable, regardless of the number of candidates competing in the election. On the other hand, using data on how the same individuals vote in multiple elections, the hypothesis that voters vote ideologically is potentially falsifiable, and we provide general conditions under which the hypothesis can be tested. IS - 5 JF - Journal of Economic Theory SN - 00220531 EP - 1894 TI - Do voters vote ideologically?☆ VL - 144 SP - 1868 KW - election KW - electoral_competition KW - political_economy AU - Degan, Arianna AU - Merlo, Antonio PY - 2009/09/04/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2008.10.008 ER -