Social Norms and the Paradox of Elections’ Turnout

B-Tier
Journal: Public Choice
Year: 2004
Volume: 121
Issue: 1
Pages: 239-255

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

People vote although their marginal gain from voting is zero.We contribute to the resolution of this paradox by presentinga model for equilibrium configuration of attitudes regardingthe decision to vote. Each individual is seen as an element ofa social network, within which pairs of individuals expressideas and attitudes, exerting mutual influence. We model therole of such networks in propagating the mutual influenceacross pairs of individuals. We show that it may suffice thata small set of individuals have a strong feeling about showingup to vote to generate a significant turnout in elections. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:kap:pubcho:v:121:y:2004:i:1:p:239-255
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24