Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP11622 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details   |   Bibliographic Reference

Full Details

Title: Voter Motivation and the Quality of Democratic Choice

Author(s): Lydia Mechtenberg and Jean-Robert Tyran

Publication Date: November 2016

Keyword(s): Experiment, Information Acquisition, information aggregation and voting

Programme Area(s): Public Economics

Abstract: The quality of democratic choice 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.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11622

Bibliographic Reference

Mechtenberg, L and Tyran, J. 2016. 'Voter Motivation and the Quality of Democratic Choice'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=11622