The Median Voter Hypothesis: Evidence from General Purpose Local Governments

Geoffrey K Turnbull and Salpie Djoundourian ()

Public Choice, 1994, vol. 81, issue 3-4, 223-40

Abstract: The median voter hypothesis represents a much-used as well as much-criticized tool in the hands of public finance economists. To evaluate the median voter hypothesis, this paper applies the Cox specification test using data from general purpose municipal governments. The Cox test allows for possible simultaneous rejection of the median voter hypothesis and all tested models, thus providing stricter criteria than applied to date in empirical median voter hypothesis analyses. The test results reveal that the median voter hypothesis is appropriate for explaining the aggregate behavior of municipal governments but not specific services. Further, the single service and single tax base assumptions are not critical to the empirical median voter hypothesis performance. Copyright 1994 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Date: 1994
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