Electoral Participation under Alternative Jurisdictional Structures: A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation

替代管辖结构下的选举参与：理论和实验研究

• 批准号: 9820229
• 负责人: Dan Levin
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Ohio State University Research Foundation -DO NOT USE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-01 至 2003-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9820229&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Electoral; Participation; under; Alternative; Jurisdictional

We propose to study, using theoretical analysis and laboratory experiments, the interaction between two issues in voting and information aggregation in environments of incomplete information. The first issue is strategic participation by voters. The second is the partitioning of voters into jurisdictions. In particular, we are interested in the positive and normative implications of alternative electoral partitions when voters have an incentive to behave strategically.Building on earlier theoretical research on voting we develop model of electoral participation under two information structures, common values and private values. This approach connects our work with the literature on competitive bidding and auctions. In our model, voters behave strategically and respond to informational environments, costs of voting, and the jurisdictional structure. Such dependency allows the investigation of the positive and normative aspects of alternative partitions of the electorate into different jurisdictional structures. This provides an analytical framework for ranking jurisdictional structures based on the underlying informational environment. A simple model is presented for motivational and illustrative purpose.All theoretical predictions will be tested with experiments; a sketch of the design and treatments is provided. Naturally, for any normative conclusions regarding electoral systems to be valid, the predicted behavior leading to these conclusions must mirror real behavior. Of particular interest is how experimental subjects respond to different incentives. For example, parameterizing the direct costs of voting and the informational factors referred to above and varying their values across experimental treatments will allow inferences about the strengths of these factors relative to those that are predicted. The performance of different jurisdictional structures within the same environment can also be observed directly in the experimental data collected.The desired impact of this project includes an improved perspective on the factors influencing voter participation, and scientifically corroborated prescriptions for what kinds of issues should be resolved at a highly centralized level of authority and what kinds at a localized level. As the federal government turns welfare policy over to the states and debates national school curriculum standards, this topic is of particular significance to current United States political economy.

我们建议使用理论分析和实验室实验研究，在不完整的信息环境中，两个问题和信息聚集之间的相互作用。第一个问题是选民的战略参与。第二个是将选民划分为司法管辖区。特别是，当选民有动力以战略性行事时，我们对替代选举分区的积极和规范含义感兴趣。建立对较早的投票理论研究，我们在两个信息结构，共同价值和私人价值观下开发了选举参与模型。这种方法将我们的工作与有关竞争性招标和拍卖的文献联系起来。在我们的模型中，选民的行为行为，对信息环境，投票成本和管辖权结构做出反应。这种依赖性允许对选民替代分区的积极和规范性方面进行调查，以分为不同管辖权结构。这为基于基本信息环境对管辖区结构进行排名提供了一个分析框架。为动机和说明性目的提出了一个简单的模型。所有理论预测将通过实验进行测试。提供了设计和处理的草图。自然，对于关于选举制度有效的任何规范性结论，导致这些结论的预测行为都必须反映出真实的行为。特别有趣的是实验学科如何应对不同的激励措施。例如，将投票的直接成本和上述参考的信息因素进行参数化，并在实验治疗中改变其价值，将允许推断这些因素相对于预测的因素的优势。在收集的实验数据中也可以直接观察到在相同环境中不同管辖区结构的性能。该项目的所需影响包括对影响选民参与的因素的改进观点，以及在高度中心级别的权威和本地化水平上应分解哪些问题的科学确认处方。随着联邦政府将福利政策移交给各州并辩论国立学校课程标准，该主题对当前的美国政治经济学尤为重要。