Social Identity and Voter Turnout

Avi Ben-Bassat () and Momi Dahan ()

No CESifo Working Paper No. 2331, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo Group Munich

Abstract: This paper uses the unique social structure of Arab communities to examine the effect of social identity on voter turnout. We first show that voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who shares their social group (signified by last name) as compared to other candidates. Using last name as a measure of group affiliation, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between group size and voter turnout which is consistent with theoretical models that reconcile the paradox of voting by incorporating groups behavior.

Keywords: voter turnout; paradox of voting; social identity; local elections (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 D72 H00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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