Voting as Investment vs. Voting as Consumption: New Evidence

Economists have long been puzzled by the fact that people vote in elections even though their influence on the electoral outcome is infinitesimal and they can 'free ride' on the voting of voters favoring the same candidate. This well-known 'paradox of voting' assumes that people...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Kyklos (Basel) 1994-01, Vol.47 (2), p.197-207
Main Authors: GUTTMAN, JOEL M., HILGER, NAFTALI, SHACHMUROVE, YOCHANAN
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Consumption
Costs
Election results
Expected utility
Hypotheses
Ice cream
Participation
Presidential elections
Social research
Variables
Vendors
Voter behavior
Voters
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Summary:Economists have long been puzzled by the fact that people vote in elections even though their influence on the electoral outcome is infinitesimal and they can 'free ride' on the voting of voters favoring the same candidate. This well-known 'paradox of voting' assumes that people vote as an investment in the electoral outcome. The authors develop a new test of the hypothesis that voting is a form of investment, as opposed to the alternative hypothesis that voting is a form of consumption. Their empirical results suggest that voting is a form of consumption, implying that the paradox of voting may be exaggerated. Copyright 1994 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG
ISSN:0023-5962
1467-6435
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6435.1994.tb02255.x