Ballot Position, Choice Fatigue, and Voter Behaviour

Ned Augenblick and Scott Nicholson

The Review of Economic Studies, 2016, vol. 83, issue 2, 460-480

Abstract: In this article, we examine the effect of "choice fatigue" on decision making. We exploit a natural experiment in which voters face the same contest at different ballot positions due to differences in the number of local issues on their ballot. Facing more decisions before a given contest significantly increases the tendency to abstain or rely on decision shortcuts, such as voting for the status quo or the first-listed candidate. We estimate that, without choice fatigue, abstentions would decrease by 8%, and 6% of the propositions in our data set would have passed rather than failed.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:restud:v:83:y:2016:i:2:p:460-480.

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