Compulsory Voting, Habit Formation, and Political Participation | Zendy

Michael M. Bechtel | Zendy; Dominik Hangartner | Zendy; Lukas Schmid | Zendy

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Compulsory Voting, Habit Formation, and Political Participation

Author(s) -

Michael M. Bechtel,

Dominik Hangartner,

Lukas Schmid

Publication year - 2017

Publication title -

the review of economics and statistics

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 8.999

H-Index - 165

eISSN - 1530-9142

pISSN - 0034-6535

DOI - 10.1162/rest_a_00701

Subject(s) - spillover effect , voting , turnout , context (archaeology) , political science , politics , disapproval voting , intervention (counseling) , voting behavior , economics , demographic economics , political economy , law , microeconomics , psychology , geography , archaeology , psychiatry

Can electoral institutions induce lasting changes in citizens’ voting habits? We study the long-term and spillover effects of compulsory voting in the Swiss canton of Vaud (1900–1970) and find that this intervention increases turnout in federal referendums by 30 percentage points. However, despite its magnitude, the effect disappears quickly after voting is no longer compulsory. We find minor spillover effects on related forms of political participation that also vanish immediately after compulsory voting has been abolished. Overall, these results question habit formation arguments in the context of compulsory voting.

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