Essays on voting / Arianna Degan.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Degan, Arianna.

Contributor:

Merlo, Antonio, advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Economics.

Economics--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Economics.

Economics--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

xiii, 132 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

2003.

Summary:

In the first two essays of this dissertation we propose and estimate two policy-preference-based models of citizens' voting behavior to address questions that arise from various aspects of the data on voting in U.S. national elections. The first essay focuses on voting in consecutive elections for the same public office. The second essay focuses on voting in concurrent elections for different public offices. This disseration conlcudes with a review of the literature related to our work.

A dynamic model of voting. We propose and estimate a dynamic model of voting with asymmetric information which incorporates three main factors affecting voting choices of individual citizens: party identification, policy preferences and candidates' valence. Using individual-level data on voting decisions in two consecutive presidential elections we identify and estimate (1) the distribution of voters' policy positions, and (2) candidates' valence. In addition to providing an equilibrium interpretation of the observed voting profiles and electoral outcomes, we conduct counterfactual experiments to evaluate the performance of the electoral process.

Do citizens vote strategically? Evidence from U.S National Elections (with A. Merlo). To what extent do citizens vote strategically? To address this question, we propose and estimate, using individual-level data on voting decisions in the 1972 presidential and congressional elections, a unified model of turnout and voting which accounts for "split-ticket voting" and "selective abstension". We find that, while a majority of citizens behave "sincerely", 15% of citizens behave "strategically". We also show that changes in information and strategic behavior, while holding policy preferences constant, can account for the observed voting behavior in the 1974 midterm election.

Notes:

Adviser: Antonio Merlo.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Economics) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2003.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 3095873.

OCLC:

244973190