Potential Impact of Referenda and Initiatives on Voter Turnout: Evidence from the 1998 General Election

Richard Cebula () and Mary Unemori

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This empirical study seeks to broaden the interpretation of the “rational voter model” so as to include the potential effects of “direct democracy” on the voter participation rate. Direct democracy is assumed to take two forms: initiatives and referendums. This study tests the hypothesis that initiatives and/or referendums may significantly affect voter turnout because although they may elevate the expected gross benefits of voting by “empowering voters.” Using cross-section analysis for the 50 states for the 1998 general election, this study finds that referendums did significantly increase voter turnout.

Keywords: direct democracy; referendums; initiatives; voter turnout (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D71 D72 D73 D78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-12-02
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in International Journal of Business Research 1.6(2006): pp. 96-101

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/60064/1/MPRA_paper_60064.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:pra:mprapa:60064

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().