Term limits and voter turnout

Francisco Veiga and Linda Veiga

No 06/2017, NIPE Working Papers from NIPE - Universidade do Minho

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of term limits on voter turnout, using the recent introduction of term limits at the local government level in Portugal as a natural experiment. Although instrumental, expressive, and information-based theories of voter participation imply effects of term limits on turnout, this is clearly an under-researched topic. Applying a difference-in-differences approach to data at both the municipal and parish levels, we find strong evidence that the introduction of term limits increased voter participation. Our results contrast with previous findings for California and demonstrate that more research on this topic is clearly necessary.

Keywords: Term limits; Voter turnout; Local elections; Portugal; Natural experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H7 K16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-pol and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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