Do Voters Vote Sincerely? / Arianna Degan, Antonio Merlo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Degan, Arianna.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Merlo, Antonio.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w12922.

NBER working paper series no. w12922

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007.

Summary:

In this paper we address the following question: To what extent is the hypothesis that voters vote sincerely testable or falsifiable? We show that using data only on how individuals vote in a single election, the hypothesis that voters vote sincerely 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 sincerely is potentially falsifiable, and we provide general conditions under which the hypothesis can be tested. We then consider an application of our theoretical framework and assess whether the behavior of voters is consistent with sincere voting in U.S. national elections in the post-war period. We find that by and large sincere voting can explain virtually all of the individual-level observations on voting behavior in presidential and congressional U.S. elections in the data.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2007.