Buying a Lottery Ticket to Help the Poor: Altruism, Civic Duty, and Self-Interest in the Decision to Vote  

Oleh:

Jankowski, Richard

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Rationality and Society vol. 14 no. 1 (Feb. 2002), page 55-77.
Topik: altruism; civic duty; rationality; self-interest; voting
Fulltext: 55RS141.pdf (145.82KB)

Isi artikel

A core problem of rational-actor models for politics is the seeming irrationality of voting, namely, that it is irrational for voters to vote and to be informed about politics. A simple cost±bene®t analysis indicates that the probability of one's vote being decisive is so small that the costs of voting exceed the bene®ts. Some authors propose that civic duty or expressive voting explain why individuals vote. However, these explanations are not completely satisfactory. Five facts characterize American voting behavior: (1) the costs of voting, e.g. registration, etc. affect the probability of voting; (2) turnout varies substantially according to the type of election. In the United States, turnout for presidential elections is about 50%; for off-year elections it is about 35%; and for state and local elections it is about 25%; (3) more educated voters have a higher probability of voting; (4) individuals have a tendency to abstain from voting for races appearing lower on the ballot (the roll-off phenomenon); and (5) voters often vote strategically when their most preferred candidate has no chance of winning. Neither civic duty nor expressive voting can explain all ®ve of these facts of voting. I argue that any successful analysis of voting must not only explain the positive turnout in elections, but also these ®ve facts of voting. I expand the basic voting calculus model by incorporating both a pure altruistic motive and a more extensive incomplete-information component. The incorporation into the standard rational-actor model of voting of a low-grade sense of altruism is essential. The resulting analysis allows me to explain the ®ve facts of American voting behavior.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali