A key tenet of representative democracy is that politicians' discourse and policies should follow voters' preferences … local elections, 1958-2022. We first show that candidates tend to converge to the center of the ideology and complexity … focusing on elections in which they narrowly win their primary (in the U.S.) or narrowly qualify for the runoff (in France …

multidimensional campaign promises from political candidates in consecutive mayoral elections in the Philippines. Voters who are … preferences by comparing actual incumbent vote shares with shares in counterfactual elections: both effects are substantial. Even … in a clientelist democracy, counterfactual incumbent vote shares deviate more from actual shares when policy and valence …

estimate their effects on economic performance, trade, human development, conflict, and democracy. Using a close-elections …In most national elections, voters face a key choice between continuity and change. Electoral turnovers occur when the … universe of presidential and parliamentary elections held since 1945. We document the prevalence of turnovers over time and we …