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The last temptation: Is group-based voting resilient to pivotal considerations?

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  • Tsakas, Nikolas
  • Xefteris, Dimitrios

Abstract

Group-based reasoning asserts that a voter will adopt the strategy that maximizes their payoff, assuming that this strategy will also be employed by all voters of their type. In this paper, we examine a general model involving multiple candidates and voter types, and we demonstrate that, in mandatory or costless elections, group-based voting remains resilient to pivotal considerations (i.e. the impulse to deviate from the strategy that maximizes the group’s payoffs in favor of one’s own payoff). This finding strengthens the connection between two important theories on voting behavior – group-based reasoning and individual utility maximization – and highlights that they do not always produce starkly different predictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsakas, Nikolas & Xefteris, Dimitrios, 2023. "The last temptation: Is group-based voting resilient to pivotal considerations?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:160:y:2023:i:c:s0014292123002477
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104619
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ethical voting; Pivotal voter; Strategic voting; Multicandidate elections;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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