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Outcome, Process & Power in Direct Democracy

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Author Info
Bruno S. Frey
Marcel Kucher
Alois Stutzer

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Abstract

Based on survey data for Switzerland, new empirical findings on direct democracy are presented. In the first part, we show that, on average, public employees receive lower financial compensation under more direct democratic institutions. However, top bureaucrats are more constrained in direct democracies and have to be compensated by higher wages for that loss of power. In the second part, we demonstrate that reported subjective well-being of the population is much higher in jurisdictions with stronger direct democratic rights. This is not only the case because people value political outcomes higher but they derive utility from the political process itself.

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Paper provided by Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW in its series IEW - Working Papers with number iewwp025.

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Handle: RePEc:zur:iewwpx:025

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Related research
Keywords: Direct Democracy; Power; Compensating Wage Differentials; Satisfaction with Life; Process Utility;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Private Pensions

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  18. Kahneman, Daniel & Wakker, Peter P & Sarin, Rakesh, 1997. "Back to Bentham? Explorations of Experienced Utility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(2), pages 375-405, May.
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