A Group Rule–Utilitarian Approach to Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence

Stephen Coate () and Michael Edward Conlin ()

American Economic Review, 2004, vol. 94, issue 5, pages 1476-1504

Abstract: This paper explores a group rule–utilitarian approach to understanding voter turnout, inspired by the theoretical work of John C. Harsanyi (1980) and Timothy J. Feddersen and Alvaro Sandroni (2002). It develops a model based on this approach and studies its performance in explaining turnout in Texas liquor referenda. The results are encouraging: the comparative static predictions of the model are broadly consistent with the data, and a structurally estimated version of the model yields reasonable coefficient estimates and fits the data well. The structurally estimated model also outperforms a simple expressive voting model.

Date: 2004
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