Compulsory voting, habit formation, and political participation

Michael M. Bechtel, Dominik Hangartner and Lukas Schmid

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Can electoral institutions induce lasting changes in citizens’ voting habits? We study the long-term and spillover effects of compulsory voting in the Swiss canton of Vaud (1900–1970) and find that this intervention increases turnout in federal referendums by 30 percentage points. However, despite its magnitude, the effect disappears quickly after voting is no longer compulsory. We find minor spillover effects on related forms of political participation that also vanish immediately after compulsory voting has been abolished. Overall, these results question habit formation arguments in the context of compulsory voting.

Keywords: Habit Formation; Compulsory Voting; Turnout; Political Participation; Social Norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H41 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

Published in Review of Economics and Statistics, 9, July, 2018, 100(3), pp. 467-476. ISSN: 0034-6535

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