A vast academic literature illustrates that voter turnout is affected by the institutional design of elections (e.g., compulsory voting, electoral system, postal or Sunday voting). In this article, we exploit a simple Downsian theoretical framework to argue that the institutional framework of...

Under instrumental voting closer elections are expected to have higher turnout. Under expressive voting, however, turnout may increase with decreasing closeness when voters have a preference for winners. An empirical test using data on Belgian municipal elections supports this. We find that...

Analysing data for the 1995 Regional Elections in Brussels we show how the layout of the ballot affects voting behaviour as reflected by the candidates' preferential votes. We discuss how this special case of Ballot Position Effects can be reconciled with existing models of (expressive) voting....

According to Stigler’s capture theoryregulation often follows the preferences of producers.Therefore, the interests of the financial industry might be amajor driving force for the ongoing supervisory reform debate.This paper identifies possible interests of the regulatedindustries: Either they...