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THE VALUE OF THE VOTE: A MODEL AND TEST OF THE EFFECTS OF TURNOUT ON DISTRIBUTIVE POLICY
Author(s) -
Fleck Robert K.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.1999.tb01451.x
Subject(s) - turnout , distributive property , voting , value (mathematics) , economics , voter turnout , demographic economics , test (biology) , econometrics , political science , statistics , politics , law , mathematics , paleontology , pure mathematics , biology
This article demonstrates important effects of voter participation. A model shows why, for some types of distributive policy, incumbents are more likely to be reelected if high‐turnout regions receive more funds than do low‐turnout regions. The model predicts, therefore, greater allocations to high‐turnout regions. This prediction is tested with county‐level data from the New Deal's Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). The estimates suggest that by voting rather than not voting, an individual increased by about $30 the expected FERA allocation for the individual's county. The size of the estimated effect differs across states. ( JEL D72, N42)