Abstract
We present and experimentally test a theoretical model of majority threshold determination as a function of voters’ risk preferences. The experimental results confirm the theoretical prediction of a positive correlation between the voter's risk aversion and the corresponding preferred majority threshold. Furthermore, the experimental results show that a voter's preferred majority threshold negatively relates to the voter's confidence about how others will vote. Moreover, in a treatment in which individuals receive a private signal about others’ voting behaviour, the confidence-related motivation of behaviour loses ground to the signal's strength.
JEL codes
- C91: Laboratory, Individual Behavior
- D72: Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D81: Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
- H11: Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government
Reference
Giuseppe Marco Attanasi, Luca Corazzini, Nikolaos Georgantzis, and Francesco Passarelli, “Risk Aversion, Overconfidence and Privite information as Determinants of Majority thresholds”, Pacific Economic Review, vol. 19, n. 3, August 2014, pp. 355–386.
See also
Published in
Pacific Economic Review, vol. 19, n. 3, August 2014, pp. 355–386