Vote trading with and without party leaders

Alessandra Casella, Thomas Palfrey and Sébastien Turban

Journal of Public Economics, 2014, vol. 112, issue C, 115-128

Abstract: Two groups of voters of known sizes disagree over a single binary decision to be taken by simple majority. Individuals have different, privately observed intensities of preferences and before voting can buy or sell votes among themselves for money. We study, theoretically and experimentally, the implication of such trading for outcomes and welfare when trades are coordinated by the two group leaders and when they take place anonymously in a competitive market. The theory has strong predictions. In both cases, trading falls short of full efficiency, but for opposite reasons: with group leaders, the minority wins too rarely; with market trades, the minority wins too often. As a result, with group leaders, vote trading improves over no-trade; with market trades, vote trading can be welfare reducing. The theoretical predictions are strongly supported by the experimental data.

Keywords: Vote trading; Majority voting; Committees; Experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Vote Trading With and Without Party Leaders (2012)
Working Paper: Vote Trading With and Without Party Leaders (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:112:y:2014:i:c:p:115-128

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.01.001

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