Why do voters vote? Theoretical concepts and experimental results

A. Zaostrovtsev and V. Matveev
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A. Zaostrovtsev: National Research University "Higher School of Economics", St. Petersburg, Russia
V. Matveev: Udmurtiya's Subsidiary of the Institute of Economics of the Ural's Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Izhevsk, Russia

Journal of the New Economic Association, 2021, vol. 52, issue 4, 204-226

Abstract: The article examines the evolution of the analysis of voters' behavior when searching for an answer to the question: Why does the a voter vote? It is shown how the approach to the voter as a rational egoistic investor gave rise to what is commonly called the "voter's paradox" in political and economic theory. Further search was aimed at explaining this paradox. On the one hand, the concept of an expressive voter appears, who expresses himself through participation in elections, on the other hand, we are talking about an altruistic voter who overcomes egoism. The latest theoretical finding was the explanation of participation in voting by attracting "relational goods" that differ in their qualities from both public and private goods. With this approach, the "voter's paradox" finds the most consistent solution. And it is in this approach the shift from methodological individualism to institutional individualism is most clearly manifested. The authors of the article highlight this shift as a new trend in explaining the reasons for voting. At the same time, it is argued that the considered conceptual diversity is a reflection of the multidimensional features of human nature, and it is this fact that gives rise to the ambiguity and contradiction of experimental results.

Keywords: voter's paradox; voters' turnout; rational voter; voter's egoism; expressive voter; altruist voter; relational goods; methodological and institutional individualism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B25 B41 D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nea:journl:y:2021:i:52:p:204-226

DOI: 10.31737/2221-2264-2021-52-4-9

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