Economic Factors in a Model of Voting: The Case of The Netherlands, Great Britain, and Israel

A spatial model of voting in parliamentary elections is estimated by using survey data from The Netherlands, Great Brit-ain, and Israel. It is shown that more educated voters put more weight on the parties’ political programs. The choice of less educated voters depends primarily on their social and economic status. In the case of Israel, observance of religions traditions plays the same role as education in European countries: the more secular is the voter, the greater is the impact of the party’s policy platform on his choice