Estimating Habit Formation in Voting
Estimating Habit Formation in Voting
复制标题
估计投票中习惯的形成
DOI:
10.3386/w19721
复制
发表时间:
2013
期刊:
影响因子:
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通讯作者:
Tom S. Vogl
中科院分区:
文献类型:
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作者:
Thomas Fujiwara;Kyle C. Meng;Tom S. Vogl
We estimate habit formation in voting--the effect of past on current turnout--by exploiting transitory voting cost shocks. Using county-level data on U.S. presidential elections from 1952-2012, we find that precipitation on current and past election days reduces voter turnout. Our estimates imply that a 1-point decrease in past turnout lowers current turnout by 0.7-0.9 points. Consistent with a dynamic extension of the Downsian framework, current precipitation has stronger effects following previous rainy elections. Further analyses suggest that this habit formation operates by reinforcing the intrinsic satisfaction associated with voting.