An Experimental Investigation of Electoral Complexity

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This research explores the ways in which candidates choose their political platforms when facing complex decision problems. This research uses spatial theory to locate voters and relies on previous theoretical results that show how voters make decisions when choosing among candidates in complex policy spaces. This research extends what has previously been done by focusing on the ways that candidates build their platforms when facing voters who have preferences across very complex policy spaces. While the standard models show that disequilibrium is common and that candidates can occupy any position in a complex space, this research points out that these theoretical problems are often quickly solved by human actors. The research uses laboratory experiments to test predictions about how candidates behave when the number of voters is varied, when the information about voter location is varied, and when the complexity of the policy space is varied. This research sheds light on the ways in which candidates handle very complex decision problems.