An empirical analysis of valence in electoral competition |
| |
Authors: | Fabian Gouret Guillaume Hollard Stéphane Rossignol |
| |
Institution: | 1.Departament de Teoria Econòmica and CAEPS,Universitat de Barcelona,Barcelona,Spain;2.Paris School of Economics and CNRS,Paris Cedex 13,France;3.Université Paris-Descartes, UFR de mathématiques et informatique,Paris,France |
| |
Abstract: | Spatial models of voting have dominated mathematical political theory since the seminal work of Downs. The Downsian model
assumes that each elector votes on the basis of his utility function which depends only on the distance between his preferred
policy platform and the ones proposed by candidates. A succession of papers introduces valence issues into the model, i.e.,
candidates’ characteristics which are independent of the platforms they propose. So far, little is known about which of the
existing utility functions used in valence models is the most empirically founded. Using a large survey run prior to the 2007
French presidential election, we evaluate and compare several spatial voting models with valence. Existing models perform
poorly in fitting the data. However, strong empirical regularities emerge. This leads us to a new model of valence that we
call the intensity valence model. This new model makes sense theoretically and is grounded empirically. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|