Estimating Habit Formation in Voting

Thomas Fujiwara, Kyle Meng and Tom Vogl

No 19721, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We estimate habit formation in voting--the effect of past on current turnout--by exploiting transitory voting cost shocks. Using county-level data on U.S. presidential elections from 1952-2012, we find that precipitation on current and past election days reduces voter turnout. Our estimates imply that a 1-point decrease in past turnout lowers current turnout by 0.7-0.9 points. Consistent with a dynamic extension of the Downsian framework, current precipitation has stronger effects following previous rainy elections. Further analyses suggest that this habit formation operates by reinforcing the intrinsic satisfaction associated with voting.

JEL-codes: D72 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
Note: PE POL
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published as Fujiwara, Thomas, Kyle Meng, and Tom Vogl. 2016. "Habit Formation in Voting: Evidence from Rainy Elections." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 8 (4): 160-88.

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