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Voting costs and voter welfare

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  • Xiaopeng Xu

    (University of California-Berkeley)

Abstract

This note considers the effect of the cost of voting on voters' welfare and their incentive to reduce voting costs in a simple model in which two single-voter teams participate to win an election from two alternatives. When each voter''s benefit of winning is his private information but uncertain to his rival, reductions in the cost of voting have two opposing effects on each voter''s welfare, namely, the direct effect and the indirect effect. And the voters may be worse off as their voting costs decrease. In this case, voters will face a prisoner''s dilemma, as each voter has a unilateral incentive to reduce his cost of voting.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaopeng Xu, 2002. "Voting costs and voter welfare," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 3(21), pages 1-6.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-02c70014
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Palfrey, Thomas R. & Rosenthal, Howard, 1985. "Voter Participation and Strategic Uncertainty," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(1), pages 62-78, March.
    2. Thomas Palfrey & Howard Rosenthal, 1983. "A strategic calculus of voting," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 7-53, January.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

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