Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Based on survey data for Switzerland, new empirical findings on direct democracy are presented. In the first part, the authors show that, on average, public employees receive lower financial compensation under more direct democratic institutions. However, top bureaucrats are more constrained in direct democracies and have to be compensated by higher wages for that loss of power. In the second part, they demonstrate that reported subjective well-being of the population is much higher in jurisdictions with stronger direct democratic rights. This is not only the case because people value political outcomes higher but also because they derive utility from the political process itself. Copyright 2001 by Kluwer Academic Publishers