Voter motivation and the quality of democratic choice
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Voter motivation and the quality of democratic choice. / Mechtenberg, Lydia; Tyran, Jean Robert.
I: Games and Economic Behavior, Bind 116, 2019, s. 241-259.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Voter motivation and the quality of democratic choice
AU - Mechtenberg, Lydia
AU - Tyran, Jean Robert
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The efficiency of committee voting and referenda with common-interest issues critically depends on voter motivation, i.e., on voters' willingness to cast an informed vote. If voters are motivated, voting may result in smart choices because of information aggregation but if voters remain ignorant, delegating decision making to an expert may yield better outcomes. We experimentally study a common-interest situation in which we vary voters' information cost and the competence of the expert. We find that voters are more motivated to collect information than predicted by standard theory and that voter motivation is higher when subjects demand to make choices by voting than when voting is imposed on subjects.
AB - The efficiency of committee voting and referenda with common-interest issues critically depends on voter motivation, i.e., on voters' willingness to cast an informed vote. If voters are motivated, voting may result in smart choices because of information aggregation but if voters remain ignorant, delegating decision making to an expert may yield better outcomes. We experimentally study a common-interest situation in which we vary voters' information cost and the competence of the expert. We find that voters are more motivated to collect information than predicted by standard theory and that voter motivation is higher when subjects demand to make choices by voting than when voting is imposed on subjects.
KW - Experiment
KW - Information acquisition
KW - Information aggregation
KW - Voting
U2 - 10.1016/j.geb.2018.12.002
DO - 10.1016/j.geb.2018.12.002
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85066407707
VL - 116
SP - 241
EP - 259
JO - Games and Economic Behavior
JF - Games and Economic Behavior
SN - 0899-8256
ER -
ID: 241100869