Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T08:58:27.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Incomplete Information and Ideological Explanations of Platform Divergence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Rebecca B. Morton
Rebecca B. Morton
Affiliation:
University of Iowa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

One of the paradoxes of formal spatial voting models is the robustness of the theoretical result that candidates will converge toward centrists positions and the empirical observation of persistent policy divergence of candidates. A solution is that candidates are ideological (have policy preferences). When candidates have policy preferences and incomplete information about voter preferences, then platform divergence is theoretically predicted. Experimental tests of the ideological model are presented. It is shown that platform divergence is significant when candidates are ideological and have incomplete information about voter preferences. However, candidate positions are more convergent, on average, than the theory predicts, suggesting that subjects value winning independently of the expected payment.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 382 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldrich, John H. 1983. “A Downsian Model with Party Activism.” American Political Science Review 77:974–990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto. 1988. “Credibility and Policy Convergence in a Two-Party System with Rational Voters.” American Economic Review 78:796–805.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Cohen, Gerald D., and Roubini, Nouriel. 1992. “Macroeconomic Policy and Elections in OECD Democracies.” Economics and Politics 4:1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Londregan, John, and Rosenthal, Howard. 1991. “National Elections and the Economy: Evidence from the Twentieth Century United States.” Presented at the International Symposium in Economic Theory and Econometrics, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and Rosenthal, Howard. 1989. “Partisan Cycles in Congressional Elections and the Macroeconomy.” American Political Science Review 83:373–98.Google Scholar
Aranson, Peter H., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1972. “Spatial Strategies for Sequential Elections.” In Probability Models of Collective Decision Making, ed. Niemi, R. G. and Weisberg, H. F.. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith, David. 1987. “Interest Groups, Campaign Contributions, and Probabilistic Voting.” Public Choice 54:123–39.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, M. D., and Ingberman, Daniel E.. 1985. “Candidate Reputations and the ‘Incumbency Effect’.” Journal of Public Economics 27:47–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browning, Edgar K., and Browning, Jacquelene M.. 1987. Public Finance and the Price System. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Calvert, Randall. 1985. “Robustness of the Multidimensional Voting Model: Candidates' Motivations, Uncertainty, and Convergence.” American Political Science Review 29:69–95.Google Scholar
Cameron, Charles M., and Enelow, James M.. N.d. “Asymmetric Policy Effects, Campaign Contributions, and the Spatial Theory of Elections.” Mathematical and Computer Modelling. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Collier, Kenneth, McKelvey, Richard D., Ordeshook, Peter C., and Williams, Kenneth C.. 1987. “Retrospective Voting: An Experimental Study.” Public Choice 53:101–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coughlin, Peter. 1991. Probabilistic Voting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Enelow, James M., and Hinich, Melvin J.. 1984. The Spatial Theory of Voting: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris. 1974. Representatives, Roll Calls, and Constituencies. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Fisher, Ronald C. 1987. State and Local Public Finance. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, Griffen, Robert, and Glazer, Amihai. 1990. “Identical Geography, Different Party: A Natural Experiment on the Magnitude of Party Differences in the U.S. Senate, 1960–84.” In Developments in Electoral Geography, ed. Johnston, R. J., Shelley, F. M., and Taylor, P. J.. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Havrilesky, Thomas. 1987. “A Partisanship Theory of Fiscal and Monetary Regimes.” Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 19:308–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, Gregory D. 1991. “Voting and the Intertemporal Selection of Tax Rates in a Macro-economy.” Economics and Politics 3:41–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbs, Douglas A. 1977. “Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy.” American Political Science Review 71:1467–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbs, Douglas A. 1987. The American Political Economy: Macroeconomics and Electoral Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hinich, Melvin J. 1977. “Equilibrium in Spatial Voting: The Median Voter Result Is an Artifact.” Journal of Economic Theory 16:208–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Husted, Thomas, Morton, Rebecca, and Waller, Christopher. 1992. “Political Business Cycles in State Economies.” Texas A&M University. Typescript.Google Scholar
Jung, Giryong, Kenny, Lawrence, and Lott, John. 1991. “An Explanation for Why Senators from the Same State Vote Differently So Frequently.” University of Florida. Typescript.Google Scholar
Kalt, Joseph P. 1981. The Economics and Politics of Oil Price Regulation. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.Google Scholar
Kalt, Joseph P., and Zupan, Mark A.. 1984. “Capture and Ideology in the Economic Theory of Politics.” American Economic Review. 74:279–300.Google Scholar
Kalt, Joseph P., and Zupan, Mark A.. 1990. “The Apparent Ideological Behavior of Legislators: Testing for Principal-Agent Slack in Political Institutions.” Journal of Law and Economics 33:103–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kau, James B., Keenan, Donald, and Rubin, Paul H.. 1982. “A General Equilibrium Model of Congressional Voting.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 97:271–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kau, James B., and Rubin, Paul H.. 1979. “Self-Interest, Ideology, and Logrolling in Congressional Voting.” Journal of Law and Economics 22:365–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kollman, Ken, Miller, John H., and Page, Scott E.. 1992. “Adaptive Parties in Spatial Elections.” American Political Science Review 86:929–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1982. “Two-Candidate Elections Without Majority Rule Equilibria: An Experimental Study.” Simulation and Games 13:311–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1985a. “Rational Expectations in Elections: Some Experimental Results Based on a Multidimensional Model.” Public Choice 44:61–102.Google Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1985b. “Elections with Limited Information: A Fulfilled Expectations Model Using Contemporaneous Poll and Endorsement Data as Information Sources.” Journal of Economic Theory 36:55–85.Google Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1990. “A Decade of Experimental Research on Spatial Models of Elections and Committees.” In Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting ed. Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mitchell, E. J. 1979. “The Basis of Congressional Energy Policy.” Texas Law Review 57:591–613.Google Scholar
Monroe, Alan D. 1983. “American Party Platforms and Public Opinion.” American Journal of Political Science 27:27–42.Google Scholar
Morton, Rebecca B. 1987. “A Group Majority Voting Model of Public Good Provision.” Social Choke and Welfare 4:117–31.Google Scholar
Morton, Rebecca B., and Dan Wood, B.. 1992. “Winning Versus Ideology in Candidate Position Selection.” Texas A&M University. Typescript.Google Scholar
Mueller, Dennis. 1989. Public Choice II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, William D. 1975. “The Political Business Cycle.” Review of Economic Studies 42:169–90.Google Scholar
Page, Benjamin I. 1978. Choices and Echoes in Presidential Elections: Rational Man and Electoral Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Palfrey, Thomas R. 1984. “Spatial Equilibrium with Entry.” Review of Economic Studies 51:139–56.Google Scholar
Peltzman, Samuel. 1984. “Constituent Interest and Congressional Voting.” Journal of Law and Economics 27:181–210.Google Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido. 1990. Macroeconomic Policy, Credibility, and Politics. Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic.Google Scholar
Plott, Charles R. 1991. “A Comparative Analysis of Direct Democracy, Two-Candidate Elections, and Three-Candidate Elections in an Experimental Environment.” In Laboratory Research in Political Economy, ed. Palfrey, Thomas R.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Poole, Keith T. 1981. “Dimensions of Interest Group Evaluation of the U.S. Senate, 1969–1978.” American Journal of Political Science. 25:49–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 1991. “Patterns of Congressional Voting.” American Journal of Political Science 35:228–78.Google Scholar
Rogoff, Kenneth. 1990. “Equilibrium Political Budget Cycles.” American Economic Review 80:21–36.Google Scholar
Rogoff, Kenneth, and Sibert, Anne. 1988. “Elections and Macroeconomic Policy Cycles.” Review of Economic Studies 55:1–16.Google Scholar
Stiglitz, Joseph E. 1988. Economics of the Public Sector. 2d ed.New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Tovey, Craig. 1991. “The Instability of Instability.” Georgia Institute of Technology. Typescript.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Kenneth C. 1991. “Candidate Convergence and Information Costs in Spatial Elections: An Experimental Analysis.” In Laboratory Research in Political Economy, ed. Palfrey, Thomas R.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Wittman, Donald A. 1977. “Candidates with Policy Preferences: A Dynamic Model,” Journal of Economic Theory 14:180–89.Google Scholar
Wittman, Donald A. 1983. “Candidate Motivations: A Synthesis of Alternatives.” American Political Science Review 77:142–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittman, Donald A. 1991. “Spatial Strategies When Candidates Have Policy Preferences.” In Advances in the Spatial Theory of Voting, ed. Enelow, James M. and Hinich, Melvin J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar