How Decisive Is the Decisive Voter?

Eric Brunner () and Stephen Ross

No 2007-28, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines whether the voter with the median income is decisive in local spending decisions. Previous tests have relied on cross-sectional data while we make use of a pair of California referenda to estimate a first difference specification. The referenda proposed to lower the required vote share for passing local educational bonding initiatives from 67 to 50 percent and 67 to 55 percent, respectively. The jurisdiction median income appears to accurately capture the expected outcomes of majority votes on public service spending, and voters rationally consider such future public service decisions when deciding how to vote on voting rules

Keywords: Median Voter Hypothesis; Voting; Referenda; Preference Heterogeneity; Education Spending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H4 H7 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2007-07, Revised 2008-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-pol and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2007-28

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