Voluntary Voting: Costs and Benefits

We compare voluntary and compulsory voting in a Condorcet-type model in which voters have identical preferences but differential information. With voluntary voting, all equilibria involve sincere voting and positive participation. Thus, in contrast to situations with compulsory voting, there is no conflict between strategic and sincere behavior. When voting is costless, voluntary voting is welfare superior to compulsory voting. Even when voting is costly, participation rates are such that, in the limit, the correct candidate is elected—that is, information fully aggregates. Because it economizes on costs, voluntary voting is again welfare superior to compulsory voting.

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Work Title Voluntary Voting: Costs and Benefits
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Open Access
Creators
  1. Vijay Krishna
License Public Domain Mark 1.0
Work Type Article
Publication Date 2012
Deposited January 02, 2022

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  • Added Creator Vijay Krishna
  • Added Krishna and Morgan JET (2012).pdf
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    Description
    • We compare voluntary and compulsory voting in a Condorcet-type model in which voters have identical preferences but differential information. With voluntary voting, all equilibria involve sincere voting and positive participation. Thus, in contrast to situations with compulsory voting, there is no conflict between strategic and sincere behavior. When voting is costless, voluntary voting is welfare superior to compulsory voting. Even when voting is costly, participation rates are such that, in the limit, the correct candidate is elected—that is, information fully aggregates. Because it economizes on costs, voluntary voting is again welfare superior to compulsory voting.
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    • http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
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Version 2
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  • Added Creator John Morgan
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    License
    • http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
    • https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
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Version 3
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    • Journal of Economic Theory
  • Updated License Show Changes
    License
    • https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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  • Updated Keyword, Publisher Identifier (DOI), Publication Date Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Costly voting, Condorcet Jury Theorem, Information aggregation
    Publisher Identifier (DOI)
    • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2012.09.006
    Publication Date
    • 2012
    • 2012-10-01
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