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The impact of monitoring on politicians’ attendance: Evidence from the Swiss Upper House

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  • Hofer, Katharina E.
  • Lopes da Fonseca, Mariana

Abstract

In 2014, the Swiss Upper House switched from voting by show of hands to an electronic voting system, where individual decisions on specific exogenously defined vote types are published automatically. We leverage this update in monitoring technology for select votes to identify the impact of monitoring on politicians’ attendance within a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences methodology. Relying on video recordings of all sessions of the 49th Upper House legislature (2011–2015), we determine pre- and post-reform attendance rates during all votes and compare the change in attendance between votes affected and unaffected by the reform. Monitoring has a positive and significant effect on attendance particularly among legislators running for reelection, as compared to those retiring at the end of the term.

Suggested Citation

  • Hofer, Katharina E. & Lopes da Fonseca, Mariana, 2024. "The impact of monitoring on politicians’ attendance: Evidence from the Swiss Upper House," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:239:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724001713
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105235
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Attendance; Absenteeism; Monitoring; Transparency; Voting; Parliament;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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