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The voter’s blunt tool

Author

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  • T Renee Bowen

    (Stanford University, CA, USA)

  • Cecilia Hyunjung Mo

    (Vanderbilt University, TN, USA)

Abstract

When do voters win? We derive conditions under which a democracy will produce policies that favor the voter over special interests in a setting where politicians can be influenced by contributions from special interests, and are also motivated by electoral incentives. We show that increasing office holding benefits, increasing political competition, decreasing potential rents to special interests, and increasing the salience of policy imply improved policies for the representative voter. We examine panel data on the ratio of taxes paid by individuals relative to corporations in the United States and show that it is negatively correlated with political competition, office holding benefits, and policy salience, as predicted by the model.

Suggested Citation

  • T Renee Bowen & Cecilia Hyunjung Mo, 2016. "The voter’s blunt tool," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 28(4), pages 655-677, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:28:y:2016:i:4:p:655-677
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629815603495
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexandre B Cunha & Emanuel Ornelas, 2018. "The Limits of Political Compromise: Debt Ceilings and Political Turnover," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 781-824.

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