The Unintended Costs and Unfulfilled Promises of Concurrent Elections: A Natural Experiment on Turnout and Invalid Voting

2021 ◽  
pp. 088832542198980
Author(s):  
Jakub Lysek ◽  
Karel Kouba
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Substantial Cost ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Null Effect ◽  
Subnational Elections ◽  
Matching Techniques ◽  
Modest Effect

Holding two second-order elections simultaneously is expected to increase electoral participation. We exploit a natural experiment in which one group of Czech precincts was “as if” randomly assigned to holding subnational elections concurrently with senatorial ones. Using a unique data set containing variables on more than thirteen thousand precincts in five elections between 2000 and 2016, we detect a modest effect of concurrency only in the first election but no or inconsistent effect in the four subsequent contests. Furthermore, we report a strong effect of concurrency on invalid voting. We check for robustness using difference-in-differences design and matching techniques. Incongruent with existing theories, concurrency does not deliver on its promises and may come at a substantial cost to political representation. The surprising null effect on turnout is attributable to analyzing the effect of concurrency of the less salient on more salient elections.

scholarly journals The Grit in the Oyster? Women’s Parliamentary Organizations and the Substantive Representation of Women

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 618-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Allen ◽  
Sarah Childs
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

This article addresses a foundational question of political representation: how do representatives act for those they represent? In a shift away from analyses of individual representatives’ attitudes and behaviour, we identify Women’s Parliamentary Organizations as potential critical sites and critical actors for women’s substantive representation. Offering one of the most in-depth studies to date, our illustrative case is the long-standing UK Parliamentary Labour Party’s Women’s Committee. With a unique data set, and using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we systematically examine the Parliamentary Labour Party’s Women’s Committee efforts to substantively represent women over more than a decade. We find that the Committee sustains its focus on a small number of women’s issues and interacts with party leadership to advance women’s interests in a feminist direction. Our findings capture processes of political change, a frequently under-explored stage in studies of substantive representation. We close by identifying the potential for comparative research in this area.

scholarly journals The Politics of Related Lending

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 333-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Halling ◽  
Pegaret Pichler ◽  
Alex Stomper
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Competitive Environment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Unique Data

AbstractWe analyze the profitability of government-owned banks’ lending to their owners, using a unique data set of relatively homogeneous government-owned banks; the banks are all owned by similarly structured local governments in a single country. Making use of a natural experiment that altered the regulatory and competitive environment, we find evidence that such lending was used to transfer revenues from the banks to the governments. Some of the evidence is particularly pronounced in localities where the incumbent politicians face significant competition for reelection.

Does Government Activism Affect Second-hand Car Prices? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Saibal Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Consumption Behaviour ◽  
Policy Experiment ◽  
The Impact

A significant body of literature has focused on the impact of policy changes on consumption behaviour. Most of this literature looks at the impact of anticipated and durable changes, thereby ignoring the impact of unanticipated changes. In this context, exploiting a unique data set for India, the article examines the impact of a temporary ‘odd–even’ policy experiment in Delhi on second-hand car prices. The findings suggest that car prices on average, declined by 2.7 per cent after the policy announcement, although these prices subsequently recouped the initial losses. A disaggregation of car prices in terms of costs indicates that these results are driven by low-priced cars and, additionally, that cars with odd-number ending registrations commanded a premium in the market.

scholarly journals Impacts of the 1918 flu on survivors’ nutritional status: a double quasi-natural experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Palloni ◽  
Mary McEniry ◽  
Yiyue Huangfu ◽  
Hiram Beltran-Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fetal Origins ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Origins Research ◽  
Joint Occurrence

ABSTRACTA unique set of events that took place in Puerto Rico during 1918-1919 generated conditions of a “double “quasi-natural experiment. We exploit these conditions to empirically identify effects of exposure to the 1918 flu pandemic, those of the devastation left by an earthquake-tsunami that struck the island in 1918, and those associated with the joint occurrence of these events. We use geographic variation to identify the effects of the quake and timing of birth variation to identify those of the flu. In addition, we use markers of nutritional status gathered in a nationally representative sample of individuals aged 75 and older in 2002. This unique data set enables to make two distinct contributions. First, unlike most fetal-origins research that singles out early nutritional status as a determinant of adult health, we test the hypothesis that the 1918 flu had deleterious effects on the nutritional status on adult survivors who at the time of the flu were in utero or infants. Second, and unlike most research on the effects of the flu, we focus on markers of nutritional status set when the adult survivors were children or adolescents. We find that estimates of effects of the pandemic are sizeable primarily among females and among those who, in addition to the flu, were exposed to the earthquake-tsunami. We argue that these findings constitute empirical evidence supporting the conjecture that effects of the 1918 flu alone and the combined effects of the flu and the earthquake are associated not just with damage experienced during the fetal period but also postnatally.

scholarly journals “Mostly Rich White Men, Nothing in Common”: Latino Views on Political (Under) Representation in the Trump Era

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422199676
Author(s):  
Cristina Mora ◽  
Julie A. Dowling ◽  
Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
White Men ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
Representative Process ◽  
Depth Interviews

The idea of U.S. democracy rests on the assumption that all citizens will see their issues and needs reflected in elected officials. Yet, historically this has not been the case, as racialized minorities have been excluded and systematically marginalized from the representative process. Today, nonwhite populations remain significantly underrepresented in federal and state governments. Although scholars have examined the effects and mechanics of ethnoracial political representation, less is known about how individuals from minoritized populations perceive and make sense of political (under)representation. Drawing on a novel data set of 71 in-depth interviews with Latinos in the Chicagoland area and the San Francisco Bay, this article examines Latino understandings of representation. Our findings show that respondents view Latinos and other “people of color” as largely underrepresented amid an exceedingly white federal government. Yet Latino sentiments on the issue go beyond race, as respondents contend that class and a record of experience advocating on behalf of immigrant and working-class communities also matters for feeling represented by elected officials. Our findings make a case for bridging the sociological literature on racialization and political theories on representation, and have implications for understanding broader notions of political belonging and government trust.

scholarly journals Microfinance and Vulnerability to Seasonal Famine in a Rural Economy: Evidence from Monga in Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Berg ◽  
M. Shahe Emran
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Estimation Strategy ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Primary Mechanism ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Microfinance Institution

AbstractThis paper uses a unique data set on 143,000 poor households from Northern Bangladesh to analyze the effects of microfinance membership on a household’s ability to cope with seasonal famine known as Monga. We develop an identification and estimation strategy that exploits a jump and a kink at the 10-decimal land ownership-threshold driven by the Microfinance Institution screening process to ensure repayment by excluding the ultra-poor. Evidence shows that microfinance membership improves food security during Monga, especially for the poorest households who survive at the margin of one and two meals a day. The positive effects on food security are, however, not driven by higher income, as microcredit does not improve the ability to migrate for work, nor does it reduce dependence on distress sale of labor. The evidence is consistent with consumption smoothing being the primary mechanism behind the gains in food security of MFI households during the season of starvation.

scholarly journals Horizontal interactions in local personal income taxes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Lundberg
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Relative Population ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Local Council

AbstractTheories of inter-jurisdictional tax and yardstick competition assume that the tax decisions of one jurisdiction will influence the tax decisions of other jurisdictions. This paper empirically addresses the issue of horizontal dependence in local personal income tax rates across jurisdictions. Based on a large data set covering Swedish municipalities over a period of 14 years, we test for interactions across municipalities that share a common border, across municipalities within a distance of 100 km of each other, and across municipalities with similar political representation in the local council. We also test the hypothesis that the tax rate of relatively larger municipalities has a greater influence on their neighbors' tax rate compared to the influence of their smaller neighbors. Our results suggest that when lagged tax rates are controlled for, the horizontal correlation across municipalities that share a common border or are within a distance of 100 km from each other becomes insignificant. This result is of importance as it suggests that lagged tax rates should be included or at least tested for when testing for horizontal interactions or mimicking in local tax rates. However, our results support the hypothesis of horizontal interactions across municipalities that share a common border when the influence of neighboring municipalities is also weighted by their relative population size, i.e. relatively larger neighbors tend to have a greater impact on their neighbor's tax rates than their relatively smaller neighbors. This is of importance as it suggests that distance or proximity matters, although only in combination with the relative population size. We also find some evidence of horizontal dependence across municipalities with similar political preferences.

scholarly journals Microfinance and Vulnerability to Seasonal Famine in a Rural Economy: Evidence from Monga in Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Berg ◽  
M. Shahe Emran
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Estimation Strategy ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Primary Mechanism ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Microfinance Institution

AbstractThis paper uses a unique data set on 143,000 poor households from Northern Bangladesh to analyze the effects of microfinance membership on a household's ability to cope with seasonal famine known as Monga. We develop an identification and estimation strategy that exploits a jump and a kink at the 10 decimal land ownership-threshold driven by the Microfinance Institution (MFI) screening process to ensure repayment by excluding the ultra-poor. Evidence shows that microfinance membership improves food security during Monga, especially for the poorest households who survive at the margin of one and two meals a day. The positive effects on food security are, however, not driven by higher income, as microcredit does not improve the ability to migrate for work, nor does it reduce dependence on distress sale of labor. The evidence is consistent with consumption smoothing being the primary mechanism behind the gains in food security of MFI households during the season of starvation.

How Much Do Consumers Value Fuel Economy and Performance? Evidence from Technology Adoption

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
Benjamin Leard ◽  
Joshua Linn ◽  
Yichen Christy Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Economy ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Fuel Savings ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Consumer Benefit ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
High Valuation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Historical Periods

Abstract During historical periods in which US fuel economy standards were unchanging, automakers increased performance but not fuel economy, contrasting with recent periods of tightening standards and rising fuel economy. This paper evaluates the welfare consequences of automakers forgoing performance increases to raise fuel economy as standards have tightened since 2012. Using a unique data set and a novel approach to account for fuel economy and performance endogeneity, we find undervaluation of fuel cost savings and high valuation of performance. Welfare costs of forgone performance approximately equal expected fuel savings benefits, suggesting approximately zero net private consumer benefit from tightened standards.

scholarly journals Farm Gate Prices for Non-Varietal Wine in Argentina: A Multilevel Comparison of the Prices Paid by Cooperatives and Investor-Oriented Firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustina Malvido Perez Carletti ◽  
Markus Hanisch ◽  
Jens Rommel ◽  
Murray Fulton
Keyword(s):  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Unique Data ◽  
Market Shares ◽  
Price Effects ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Price Differences ◽  
Multilevel Regression Model

AbstractIn this paper, we use a unique data set of the prices paid to farmers in Argentina for grapes to examine the prices paid by non-varietal wine processing cooperatives and investor-oriented firms (IOFs). Motivated by contrasting theoretical predictions of cooperative price effects generated by the yardstick of competition and property rights theories, we apply a multilevel regression model to identify price differences at the transaction level and the departmental level. On average, farmers selling to cooperatives receive a 3.4 % lower price than farmers selling to IOFs. However, we find cooperatives pay approximately 2.4 % more in departments where cooperatives have larger market shares. We suggest that the inability of cooperatives to pay a price equal to or greater than the one paid by IOFs can be explained by the market structure for non-varietal wine in Argentina. Specifically, there is evidence that cooperative members differ from other farmers in terms of size, assets and the cost of accessing the market. We conclude that the analysis of cooperative pricing cannot solely focus on the price differential between cooperatives and IOFs, but instead must consider other factors that are important to the members.

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