Showing 1 - 10 of 131
Intertemporal conflicts occur when a group of agents with heterogeneous time preferences must make a collective decision about how to manage a common asset. How should this be done? We examine two methods: an 'Economics' approach that seeks to implement efficient allocations, and a 'Politics'...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012457961
This paper identifies which investments in school facilities help students and are valued by homeowners. Using novel data on school district bonds, test scores, and house prices for 29 U.S. states and a research design that exploits close elections with staggered timing, we show that increased...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10014468240
Among political practitioners, there is conventional wisdom about the outcomes of critical and salient legislative votes. 'This vote,' we hear, ' will either win by a little or lose by a lot.' Real-world examples suggest coalition leaders purchase 'hip-pocket' votes and "if you need me" pledges,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471442
We generalize the War of Attrition model to allow for N + K firms competing for N prizes. Two special cases are of particular interest. First, if firms continue to pay their full costs after dropping out (as in a standard-setting context), each firm's exit time is independent both of K and of...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012472956
This paper analyzes a model in which different rational individuals vote over the composition and time profile of public spending. Potential disagreement between current and future majorities generates instability in the social choice function that aggregates individual preferences. In...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012476301
This paper studies the information content and consequences of third-party voting advice issued during proxy contests …. We find that voting advice is a good predictor of contest outcomes and that vote recommendations appear to certify the …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012463507
Democratic systems are built, with good reason, on majoritarian principles, but their legitimacy requires the protection of strongly held minority preferences. The challenge is to do so while treating every voter equally and preserving aggregate welfare. One possible solution is <i>Storable Votes</i>:...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012464542
We demonstrate that personal connections amongst politicians have a significant impact on the voting behavior of U … consistent predictors of voting behavior. For the former, we estimate sharp measures that control for common characteristics of … networks on voting. We find that the effect of alumni networks is close to 60% of the size of the effect of state …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012462219
This paper presents the first empirical analysis of the impact of Parliamentary immunity on the behavior and performance of politicians. Leveraging a Constitutional Amendment, the adoption of which lifted the immunity of 132 of the 550 members of the Turkish Parliament, we find that losing...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012496085
Why are U.S. congressmen reluctant to support gun control regulations, despite the fact that most Americans are in favor of them? We argue that re-election motives can lead politicians to take a pro-gun stance against the interests of an apathetic majority of the electorate, but in line with the...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012458413