IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v64y1998i4p1001-1010.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Median Voter According to GARP

Author

Listed:
  • Geoffrey K. Turnbull
  • Chinkun Chang

Abstract

This paper adapts the generalized axiom of revealed preference (GARP) empirical method to the public goods problem to test whether observed municipal public spending can be explained “as if” the city governments maximize the utility of the median income voter. It applies the test procedure for medium‐size municipal governments in five Midwest states. The data are consistent with GARP and reveal that the local governments in the sample behave as if they maximize median voter utility once we control for the state‐specific effects, government management structure, and population density.

Suggested Citation

  • Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Chinkun Chang, 1998. "The Median Voter According to GARP," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(4), pages 1001-1010, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:64:y:1998:i:4:p:1001-1010
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.1998.tb00116.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2325-8012.1998.tb00116.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/j.2325-8012.1998.tb00116.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Varian, Hal R, 1982. "The Nonparametric Approach to Demand Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(4), pages 945-973, July.
    2. Bergstrom, Theodore C & Goodman, Robert P, 1973. "Private Demands for Public Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(3), pages 280-296, June.
    3. Gross, John, 1991. "On Expenditure Indices in Revealed Preference Tests: Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(2), pages 416-419, April.
    4. Hamilton, Bruce W., 1983. "The flypaper effect and other anomalies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 347-361, December.
    5. Gramlich, Edward M & Rubinfeld, Daniel L, 1982. "Micro Estimates of Public Spending Demand Functions and Tests of the Tiebout and Median-Voter Hypotheses," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(3), pages 536-560, June.
    6. Werner W. Pommerehne & Bruno S. Frey, 1976. "Two Approaches To Estimating Public Expenditures," Public Finance Review, , vol. 4(4), pages 395-407, October.
    7. Edwards, Linda N & Edwards, Franklin R, 1982. "Public Unions, Local Government Structure and the Compensation of Municipal Sanitation Workers," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(3), pages 405-425, July.
    8. Pommerehne, Werner W., 1978. "Institutional approaches to public expenditure : Empirical evidence from Swiss municipalities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 255-280, April.
    9. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    10. Turnbull, Geoffrey K & Djoundourian, Salpie S, 1994. "The Median Voter Hypothesis: Evidence from General Purpose Local Governments," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 81(3-4), pages 223-240, December.
    11. Romer, Thomas & Rosenthal, Howard, 1982. "Median Voters or Budget Maximizers: Evidence from School Expenditure Referenda," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(4), pages 556-578, October.
    12. Ronald G. Ehrenberg, 1980. "Retirement System Characteristics and Compensating Wage Differentials in the Public Sector," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 33(4), pages 470-483, July.
    13. Holcombe, Randall G, 1980. "An Empirical Test of the Median Voter Model," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(2), pages 260-274, April.
    14. Denzau, Arthur T & Mackay, Robert J, 1976. "Benefit Shares and Majority Voting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(1), pages 69-76, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roberto Brunetti & Matthieu Pourieux, 2023. "Representative Policy-Makers? A Behavioral Experiment with French Politicians," Working Papers 2319, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    2. Geoffrey K. Turnbull, 2007. "Government Form and Performance: Fiscal Illusion and Administrative Ability in U.S. Counties," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 754-769, January.
    3. Geoffrey K. Turnbull & Michael T. Tasto, 2008. "Independent Cities and Counties in Virginia: Substitute Jurisdictions?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(1), pages 53-66, January.
    4. Roger Hewett & Charles A. Holt & Georgia Kosmopoulou & Christine Kymn & Cheryl X. Long & Shabnam Mousavi & Sudipta Sarangi, 2005. "A Classroom Exercise: Voting by Ballots and Feet," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(1), pages 253-263, July.
    5. Rebecca J. Campbell & Geoffrey K. Turnbull, 2003. "On Government Structure and Spending: The Effects of Management Form and Separation of Powers," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(1), pages 23-34, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rhee, Se-Koo, 1996. "The impact of intergovernmental grants-in-aid on public school expenditure under the segregated school system," ISU General Staff Papers 1996010108000012396, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Eric J. Brunner & Stephen L. Ross, 2009. "Is the Median Voter Decisive? Evidence of 'Ends Against the Middle' From Referenda Voting Patterns," Working papers 2009-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised May 2010.
    3. Peter M. Mitias & Geoffrey K. Turnbull, 2001. "Grant Illusion, Tax Illusion, and Local Government Spending," Public Finance Review, , vol. 29(5), pages 347-368, September.
    4. Eric J. Brunner & Stephen L. Ross, 2007. "How Decisive Is the Decisive Voter?," Working papers 2007-28, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2008.
    5. Rodney Fort, 1988. "The median voter, setters, and non-repeated construction bond issues," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 213-231, March.
    6. Daniel E. Ingberman & Robert P. Inman, 1987. "The Political Economy of Fiscal Policy," NBER Working Papers 2405, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Marc Baudry & Matthieu Leprince & Cyriaque Moreau, 2002. "Préférences révélées, bien public local et électeur médian : tests sur données françaises," Économie et Prévision, Programme National Persée, vol. 156(5), pages 125-146.
    8. Randall Holcombe, 1989. "The median voter model in public choice theory," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 115-125, May.
    9. Brunner, Eric J. & Ross, Stephen L., 2010. "Is the median voter decisive? Evidence from referenda voting patterns," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(11-12), pages 898-910, December.
    10. Jan Brueckner & Kevin O'Brien, 1989. "Modeling government behavior in collective bargaining: A test for self-interested bureaucrats," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 15-41, October.
    11. Alexander Eck & Carolin Fritzsche & Jan Kluge & Joachim Ragnitz & Felix Rösel, 2015. "Fiscal Capacity and Determining Structural Characteristics of the Eastern German Laender," ifo Dresden Studien, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 76.
    12. Gross, John, 1995. "Heterogeneity of preferences for local public goods: The case of private expenditure on public education," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 103-127, May.
    13. Alexander Eck & Joachim Ragnitz & Johannes Steinbrecher & Christian Thater, 2012. "The future appropriateness of the revenue sharing between different groups of municipalities in Saxony," ifo Dresden Studien, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 67.
    14. Constantino Cronemberger Mendes & Maria da Conceicao Sampaio de Sousa, 2006. "Demand for locally provided public services within the median voter's framework: the case of the Brazilian municipalities," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 239-251.
    15. N. Vasudeva Murthy, 1987. "Bureaucracy and the divisibility of local public output: Further econometric evidence," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 265-272, October.
    16. Constantino Cronemberger Mendes & Maria da Conceição Sampaio de Sousa, 2015. "Demand for Locally Provided Public Services within the Median Voter's Framework: the Case of the Brazilian Municipalities," Discussion Papers 0134, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    17. Yihua Yu & Jing Wang & Xi Tian, 2016. "Identifying the Flypaper Effect in the Presence of Spatial Dependence: Evidence from Education in China's Counties," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 93-110, March.
    18. George Boyne, 1987. "Median voters, political systems and public policies: An empirical test," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 201-219, January.
    19. John Bradbury & W. Crain, 2005. "Legislative district configurations and fiscal policy in American States," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 385-407, December.
    20. Rodolfo Gonzalez & Stephen Mehay, 1985. "Bureaucracy and the divisibility of local public output," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 89-101, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:64:y:1998:i:4:p:1001-1010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.