Electoral rules, strategic entry and polarization

Damien Bol, Konstantinos Matakos, Orestis Troumpounis () and Dimitrios Xefteris

Journal of Public Economics, 2019, vol. 178, issue C

Abstract: How does electoral rule disproportionality affect the structure of the party system (i.e. the number and the policy platforms of the competing parties)? By studying a model where both party entry and platform choice are endogenous we are able to provide a unified theory: An increasing electoral rule disproportionality exhibits: a) a first-order negative effect on platform polarization, b) a second-order negative effect on the number of parties (as polarization decreases, centrist parties are squeezed between other contenders and prefer not to enter), and c) an additional third-order negative effect on polarization via the reduction of the number of parties. We then conduct a laboratory experiment and strongly confirm the theoretical predictions of the model.

Keywords: Electoral systems; Proportional representation; Disproportionality; Strategic entry; Polarization; Laboratory experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:178:y:2019:i:c:s0047272719301264

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.104065

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