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The Trade-off between Deepening and Broadening of Democracy Lessons from Youth Enfranchisement

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  • Anna Maria Koukal
  • Patricia Schafer
  • Reiner Eichenberger

Abstract

Broadening democracy by lowering the voting age is on the political agenda in many democratic societies. Previous suffrage extensions suggest that there are systematic differences between what parliaments decide and what voters want with respect to enfranchisement of new groups. This paper analyzes a new municipality level dataset of two Swiss federal referendums on lowering the voting age from 20 to 18. We focus on the role of institutional price variations by (i) the depth of democracy proxied by the strength of direct democratic institutions and (ii) the size of the new electorate. Our results provide evidence that the price the current electorate faces – thus their potential influence loss – varies with the strength of direct democracy and affects citizens’ willingness to lower the voting age. Moreover, we find systematic price reactions of present voters to the number of new voters.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Maria Koukal & Patricia Schafer & Reiner Eichenberger, 2020. "The Trade-off between Deepening and Broadening of Democracy Lessons from Youth Enfranchisement," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-16, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    • Handle: RePEc:cra:wpaper:2020-16
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Graziella Bertocchi & Arcangelo Dimico & Francesco Lancia & Alessia Russo, 2020. "Youth Enfranchisement, Political Responsiveness, and Education Expenditure: Evidence from the US," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 76-106, August.
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    4. Anna Maria Koukal & Reiner Eichenberger & Patricia Schafera, 2019. "Enfranchising Foreigners: What Drives Natives’ Willingness to Share Power?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2019-10, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Jens Hainmueller & Dominik Hangartner, 2019. "Does Direct Democracy Hurt Immigrant Minorities? Evidence from Naturalization Decisions in Switzerland," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(3), pages 530-547, July.
    6. Funk, Patricia & Litschig, Stephan, 2020. "Policy choices in assembly versus representative democracy: Evidence from Swiss communes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    voting age; youth enfranchisement; direct democracy; power loss;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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