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Voting in legislative elections under plurality rule
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Hughes, Niall (Niall E.) (2016) Voting in legislative elections under plurality rule. Journal of Economic Theory, 166 . pp. 51-93. doi:10.1016/j.jet.2016.08.004 ISSN 0022-0531.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2016.08.004
Abstract
Models of single district plurality elections show that with three parties anything can happen - extreme policies can win regardless of voter preferences. I show that when single district elections are used to fill a legislature, we get back to a world where the median voter matters. An extreme policy will generally only come about if it is preferred to a more moderate policy by the median voter in a majority of districts. The mere existence of a centrist party can lead to moderate outcomes even if the party itself wins few seats. I also show that, while some voters in a district will not vote for their nationally preferred party, in many equilibria they will want the candidate for whom they vote to win that district. This is never the case in single district elections. There, some voters always want the candidate they voted for to lose.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||||
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Subjects: | J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General) | ||||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | ||||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Voting research , Legislative bodies -- Elections | ||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Economic Theory | ||||||||||
Publisher: | Academic Press | ||||||||||
ISSN: | 0022-0531 | ||||||||||
Official Date: | November 2016 | ||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 166 | ||||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 51-93 | ||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1016/j.jet.2016.08.004 | ||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 13 October 2016 | ||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 24 April 2018 | ||||||||||
Adapted As: |
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