Voter Turnout in Direct Democracy: Theory and Evidence

Morten Søberg () and Thomas Tangerås ()
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Morten Søberg: The Norwegian Parliament, Postal: Stortinget, N-0026 Oslo, Norway

No 596, Working Paper Series from Research Institute of Industrial Economics

Abstract: We analyse voter turnout as a function of referendum types. An advisory referendum produces advice that a legislature may or may not take into account when choosing between two alternatives, whereas a binding referendum generates a decisive decision. In theory, voter turnout should be higher under binding than advisory referendums, higher in small than large electorates and higher in close than less close referendums. These predictions are corroborated by evidence from 230 local referendums in Norway. For example, a shift from an advisory to a semi-binding referendum leads to an average increase in voter turnout by 11.5 percentage points.

Keywords: Voting Behaviour; Referendum Types; Rational Choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2003-06-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm and nep-pol
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0596

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