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The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 100 No. 3 2018

Compulsory Voting, Habit Formation, and Political Participation

Michael M. Bechtel1; Dominik Hangartner2; Lukas Schmid3

1 Washington University in St. Louis and Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research · 2 ETH Zurich and London School of Economics · 3 University of Lucerne and Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research

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Abstract

Can electoral institutions induce lasting changes in citizens’ voting habits? We study the long-term and spillover effects of compulsory voting in the Swiss canton of Vaud (1900–1970) and find that this intervention increases turnout in federal referendums by 30 percentage points. However, despite its magnitude, the effect disappears quickly after voting is no longer compulsory. We find minor spillover effects on related forms of political participation that also vanish immediately after compulsory voting has been abolished. Overall, these results question habit formation arguments in the context of compulsory voting.

DOI
10.1162/rest_a_00701
Volume
100
Issue
3
Pages
467-476
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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