Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This paper investigates whether expected closeness had a significant impact on turnout in the different electoral districts of the German general elections, 1983-94. The authors find no closeness effect for the 1983 but a significant positive one for the 1987 election. The 1990 election revealed an asymmetry: in West Germany they find a positive and statistically significant closeness effect; in East Germany, a negative but also significant one. This result is lacking a theoretical explanation so far. For 1994, the authors find a positive significant effect in West and a positive but not significant one in East Germany. Copyright 1997 by Kluwer Academic Publishers