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Overstrained citizens? : the number of ballot propositions and the quality of the decision process in direct democracy
Stutzer, Alois; Baltensperger, Michael; Meier, Armando N. - 2019
We study how the number of ballot propositions affects the quality of decision making in direct democracy, as reflected in citizens' knowledge, voting behavior, and attitudes toward democracy. Using three comprehensive data sets from Switzerland with over 3,500 propositions, we exploit variation...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012022702
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Immigration, cultural distance and natives' attitudes towards immigrants : evidence from Swiss voting results
Brunner, Beatrice; Kuhn, Andreas - 2014
We combine community-level outcomes of 27 votes about immigration issues in Switzerland with census data to estimate the effect of immigration on natives' attitudes towards immigration. We apply an instrumental variable approach to take potentially endogenous locational choices into account, and...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10010398737
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Electoral incentives and the allocation of public funds
Finan, Frederico S.; Mazzocco, Maurizio - 2016
It is widely believed that politicians allocate public resources in ways to maximize political gains. But what is less clear is whether this comes at a cost to welfare; and if so, whether alternative electoral rules can help reduce these costs. In this paper, we address both of these questions by...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011449560
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Intergenerational conflict, partisan politics, and public higher education spending : evidence from the German states
Oberndorfer, Ulrich (contributor);  … - 2006
We analyze potential effects of demographic change and political constellations on higher education spending. In our panel analysis of west German states (Laender) for the period 1985 to 2002 we find empirical evidence for the hypothesis of a negative relationship between demographic aging and...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10003491072
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What determines preferences for an electoral system? : evidence from a binding referendum
Riambau, Guillem; Stillman, Steven; Boe-Gibson, Geua - 2017
of voters. In 1993, New Zealand had a binding electoral referendum on the same day as the general election where voters …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011731918
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Was Brexit caused by the unhappy and the old?
Liberini, Federica; Oswald, Andrew J.; Proto, Eugenio; … - 2017
On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union (so-called 'Brexit'). This paper uses newly released information, from the Understanding Society data set, to examine the characteristics of individuals who were for and against Brexit. Two key findings emerge. First, unhappy...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011737487
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What are you voting for? : proximity to refugee reception centres and voting in the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum
Bratti, Massimiliano; Deiana, Claudio; Enkelejda, Havari; … - 2017
In December 2016, in the middle of the "European refugee crisis", the Italian electorate voted for a referendum on … in the case of Brexit, the referendum was largely perceived as an assessment of the Prime Minister's work and the … increased (1) the referendum turnout and (2) the proportion of anti-government votes. This evidence is consistent with the fact …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011737490
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Predicting the Irish "gay marriage" referendum
Askitas, Nikos - 2015
On February 20 2015 Irish Premier Enda Kenny confirmed that a "yes-no" referendum on same sex marriage would be held on … through a popular vote. Using hourly Google Search data one week prior to the Irish Referendum of May 22 2015 and a simple …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10011407829
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Love thy neighbour? : Brexit and hate crime
Carr, Joel; Clifton-Sprigg, Joanna; James, Jonathan G.; … - 2020
We provide causal evidence of the impact of the Brexit referendum vote on hate crime in the United Kingdom (UK). Using … Brexit referendum led to an increase in hate crime by around 15-25%. This effect was concentrated in the first quarter after … the referendum and was larger in areas that voted to leave the European Union (EU). We also provide evidence against the …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012322067
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The Brexit referendum and three types of regret
Drinkwater, Stephen J.; Jennings, Colin C. - 2021
In this paper we examine three forms of regret in relation to the UK’s hugely significant referendum on EU membership … that was held in June 2016. These are, (i) whether leave voters at the referendum subsequently regretted their choice (in … individuals were more likely to indicate that it is everyone’s duty to vote following the referendum. We find evidence in favour …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012596075