Cognitive dissonance theory predicts that the act of voting makes people more positive toward the party or candidate they have voted for. Following Mullainathan and Washington (2009), I test this prediction by using exogenous variation in turnout provided by the voting age restriction. I improve...

This paper presents a detailed analysis of voters’ responses to municipality and regional-level unemployment and economic growth, using panel data on 284 municipalities and 9 regions, covering Swedish general elections from 1982 to 2002. The preferred specification suggests that a reduction in...

This study presents a comparative analysis of regulatory thresholds applicable to firms in France and in Germany. A central question tackled by the report is whether regulations related to limits on firms’ employment appear to prevent French firms from growing above these thresholds. The first...