Academic Journal
Voting to Tell Others
| Title: | Voting to Tell Others |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Stefano DellaVigna, John A. List, Ulrike Malmendier, Gautam Rao |
| Source: | The Review of Economic Studies. 84:143-181 |
| Publication Status: | Preprint |
| Publisher Information: | Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016. |
| Publication Year: | 2016 |
| Subject Terms: | jel:C93, 0502 economics and business, 05 social sciences, jel:P48, 16. Peace & justice, 0506 political science |
| Description: | Why do people vote? We argue that signaling utility plays a significant role in explaining voting behavior: people vote because others might ask. We construct a model in which individuals may derive pride from signaling to others that they voted and, conversely, feel shame or guilt from admitting that they did not vote. We design a field experiment that is tightly linked to this model and allows us to estimate the key parameters of the theory. In three inter-related treatments, we study the cost voters and non-voters of the 2010 congressional election are willing to incur to sort into and out of situations in which they might be asked whether they voted. We find that signaling utility significantly affects the sorting of non-voters. For a broad range of plausible values of lying cost, we estimate a value of voting ‘just because others will ask’ of $10-$15. This value is sizeable enough to explain election turnout. |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 1467-937X 0034-6527 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/restud/rdw056 |
| Access URL: | https://academic.oup.com/restud/article-pdf/84/1/143/8783816/rdw056.pdf https://econpapers.repec.org/article/ouprestud/v_3a84_3ay_3a2017_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a143-181..htm http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rao/files/voting20paper202014-01-131.pdf?m=1405715496 https://academic.oup.com/restud/article/84/1/143/2684500 https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/ford-center/events/~/media/A255F6C1F8074723B222542519ECB586.ashx https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w19832/w19832.pdf https://www.nber.org/papers/w19832 http://www.nber.org/papers/w19832.pdf |
| Accession Number: | edsair.doi.dedup.....f3dbc59c8fba5c89887bdfa9abe4b4a0 |
| Database: | OpenAIRE |
| ISSN: | 1467937X 00346527 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1093/restud/rdw056 |