EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Voter Mobilisation and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya

Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Tavneet Suri
Additional contact information
Vincent Pons: Harvard Business School - Harvard University, NBER - National Bureau of Economic Research [New York] - NBER - The National Bureau of Economic Research
Tavneet Suri: MIT Sloan - Sloan School of Management - MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NBER - National Bureau of Economic Research [New York] - NBER - The National Bureau of Economic Research

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Abstract In a large-scale randomised experiment implemented with Kenya's Electoral Commission, text messages intended to mobilise voters boosted electoral participation. However, the messages also decreased trust in electoral institutions after the election. This decrease was stronger for individuals on the losing side and in areas that experienced election-related violence. We hypothesise that the mobilisation campaign backfired because the Electoral Commission promised a transparent and orderly electoral process but failed to deliver on these expectations. Several potential mechanisms account for the intervention's unexpected effects, including a simple model where signalling capacity via mobilisation messages can negatively affect beliefs about election fairness.

Date: 2021-08-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in The Economic Journal, 2021, 131 (638), pp.2585-2612. ⟨10.1093/ej/ueab027⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Voter Mobilisation and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya (2021) Downloads
Working Paper: Voter Mobilisation and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya (2021)
Working Paper: Voter Mobilization and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya (2017) Downloads
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03873737

DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueab027

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD (hal@ccsd.cnrs.fr).

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03873737