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Choosing an Electoral Rule: Values and Self-Interest in the Lab

Author

Listed:
  • Bol, Damien

    (Université de Montréal)

  • Blais, André
  • Coulombe, Maxime

    (University of Western Ontario)

  • Laslier, Jean-François
  • Pilet, Jean-Benoit

Abstract

Citizens are increasingly involved in the design of democratic institutions, for instance via referendums. If they support the institution that best serves their self-interest, the outcome inevitably advantages the largest group and disadvantages minorities. In this paper, we challenge this pessimistic view with an original lab experiment in France and Great Britain. In the first phase, experimental subjects experience elections under plurality and approval voting. In the second phase, they decide which rule they want to use for extra elections. The treatment is whether they do or do not have information to determine where their self-interest lies before deciding. We find that self-interest shapes people’s decisions, but so do intrinsic egalitarian values that subjects have outside of the lab. The implications are: (1) people have consistent ‘value-driven preferences’ for electoral rules, and (2) putting them in a situation of uncertainty leads to an outcome that reflects these values.

Suggested Citation

  • Bol, Damien & Blais, André & Coulombe, Maxime & Laslier, Jean-François & Pilet, Jean-Benoit, 2020. "Choosing an Electoral Rule: Values and Self-Interest in the Lab," SocArXiv rm2tq_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:rm2tq_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/rm2tq_v1
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