Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:07:19.048Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Abstention in Elections with Asymmetric Information and Diverse Preferences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Timothy J. Feddersen  and
Wolfgang Pesendorfer
Timothy J. Feddersen
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Wolfgang Pesendorfer
Affiliation:
Princeton University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We analyze a model of a two-candidate election with costless voting in which voters have asymmetric information and diverse preferences. We demonstrate that a strictly positive fraction of the electorate will abstain and that, nevertheless, elections effectively aggregate voters' private information. Using examples, we show that more informed voters are more likely to vote than their less informed counterparts. Increasing the fraction of the electorate that is informed, however, may lead to higher levels of abstention. We conclude by showing that a biased distribution of information can lead to a biased voting population but does not lead to biased outcomes.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 93 , Issue 2 , June 1999 , pp. 381 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aldrich, John H. 1993. “Rational Choice and Turnout.” American Journal of Political Science 37(February):246–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 1996. “Uninformed Votes: Information Effects in Presidential Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 40(February):194–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, Richard A. 1978. “The Puzzle of Political Participation in America.” In The New American Political System, ed. King, Anthony. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute. Pp. 287–324.Google Scholar
Feddersen, Timothy J. 1992. “A Voting Model Implying Duverger's Law and Positive Turnout.” American Journal of Political Science 36(November):938–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feddersen, Timothy J., and Pesendorfer, Wolfgang. 1996. “The Swing Voter's Curse.” American Economic Review 86(June):408–24.Google Scholar
Feddersen, Timothy J., and Pesendorfer, Wolfgang. 1997. “Voting Behavior and Information Aggregation in Elections with Private Information.” Econometrica 65(September):1029–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, ed. 1993. Information, Participation and Choice: An Economic Theory of Democracy in Perspective. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghiradato, Paolo, and Katz, Jonathan. 1997. “Indecision Theory: An Informational Theory of Roll-Off.” California Institute of Technology. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Hill, Kim Quaile, Leighley, Jan E., and Hinton-Andersson, Angela. 1995. “Lower-Class Mobilization and Policy Linkage in the U.S. States.” American Journal of Political Science 39(February):75–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladha, Krishna, Miller, Gary, and Oppenheimer, Joe. 1996. “Information Aggregation by Majority Rule: Theory and Experiments.” University of Maryland. Typescript.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1997. “Unequal Participation: Democracy's Unresolved Dilemma.” American Political Science Review 91(March):1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lohmann, Susanne. 1993. “A Signalling Model of Informative and Manipulative Political Action.” American Political Science Review 87(June):319–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsusaka, John G. 1992. “The Information Theory of Voter Turnout.” University of Southern California. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Palfrey, Thomas R.. 1998. “An Experimental Study of Jury Decisions.” California Institute of Technology. Typescript.Google Scholar
Morton, Rebecca B. 1991. “Groups in Rational Turnout Models.” American Journal of Political Science 35(August):758–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, Roger. 1997. “Population Uncertainty and Poisson Games.” Northwestern University. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Myerson, Roger. 1998. “Extended Poisson Games and the Condorcet Jury Theorem.” Games and Economic Behavior 25(October):111–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olver, F.W.J. 1970. “Bessel Functions of Integer Order.” In Handbook of Mathematical Functions, ed. Abramowitz, Milton and Stegun, Irene A.. New York: Dover. Pp. 355–433.Google Scholar
Palfrey, Thomas R., and Rosenthal, Howard. 1983. “A Strategic Calculus of Voting.” Public Choice 41(January):7–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palfrey, Thomas R., and Rosenthal, Howard. 1985. “Voter Participation and Strategic Uncertainty.” American Political Science Review 79(March):62–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, William H., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1968. “A Theory of the Calculus of Voting.” American Political Science Review 62(March: 25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringquist, Evan J., Hill, Kim Quaile, Leighley, Jan E., and Hinton-Andersson, Angela. 1997. “Lower-Class Mobilization and Policy Linkage in the U.S. States: A Correction.” American Journal of Political Science 41(February):339–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Rosenstone, Stephen J.. 1980. Who Votes? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.