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Rising to the occasion? Youth political knowledge and the voting age

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  • Rosenqvist, Olof

    (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)

Abstract

Voting is a fundamental human right. Yet, individuals that are younger than 18 do typically not have this right since they are considered uninformed. However, recent evidence tentatively suggests that the political knowledge of youths is endogenous to the voting age. I test for the existence of such dynamic adjustments utilizing voting age discontinuities caused by Swedish laws. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy on Swedish register data to estimate the causal effect of early age voting right on political knowledge around age 18. The results do not support the existence of positive causal effects of early age voting right on political knowledge. Thus, we should not expect that 16-year-olds respond by acquiring more political knowledge if they are given the right to vote. This finding weakens the case for a lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosenqvist, Olof, 2016. "Rising to the occasion? Youth political knowledge and the voting age," Working Paper Series 2016:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2016_006
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    5. Tak Wing Chan & Matthew Clayton, 2006. "Should the Voting Age be Lowered to Sixteen? Normative and Empirical Considerations," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(3), pages 533-558, October.
    6. David S. Lee & Thomas Lemieux, 2010. "Regression Discontinuity Designs in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 281-355, June.
    7. Richard R. Lau & David J. Andersen & David P. Redlawsk, 2008. "An Exploration of Correct Voting in Recent U.S. Presidential Elections," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 395-411, April.
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    10. Daniel Hart & Robert Atkins, 2011. "American Sixteen- and Seventeen-Year-Olds Are Ready to Vote," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 633(1), pages 201-222, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jonas Jessen & Daniel Kuehnle & Markus Wagner, 2021. "Is Voting Really Habit-Forming and Transformative? Long-Run Effects of Earlier Eligibility on Turnout and Political Involvement from the UK," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1973, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Jessen, Jonas & Kühnle, Daniel & Wagner, Markus, 2021. "Downstream Effects of Voting on Turnout and Political Preferences: Long-Run Evidence from the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 14296, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    voting age; political knowledge; civic interest; tertiary education; regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D04 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Policy: Formulation; Implementation; Evaluation
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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