Self-signaling in voting
- Author(s)
- Lydia Mechtenberg, Grischa Perino, Nicolas Treich, Jean-Robert Tyran, Stephanie Wang
- Abstract
This paper presents a two-wave survey experiment to examine the impact of self-image concerns on voting behavior. We elicit votes on a ballot initiative on animal welfare in Switzerland that spurred campaigns involving widely shared normative values. We send a message to voters about scientific evidence supporting the claim that “good-hearted people tend to be good to animals.” We interpret this message as a factor that may alter the self-signaling value linked to voting in favor of the initiative. We investigate how this message affects selection and processing of information, as well as reported voting behavior. We find that the message is effective in several ways: voters agree more with arguments in favor of the initiative, are more likely to anticipate voting in favor, and do report having voted in favor of the initiative more often.
- Organisation(s)
- Vienna Center for Experimental Economics, Department of Economics
- External organisation(s)
- Universität Hamburg, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Université Toulouse-I-Capitole, University of Pittsburgh
- Journal
- Journal of Public Economics
- Volume
- 231
- No. of pages
- 16
- ISSN
- 0047-2727
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105070
- Publication date
- 03-2024
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 502057 Experimental economics, 502010 Public finance, 502027 Political economy
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics, Finance
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/selfsignaling-in-voting(f5e63cfb-5a3f-4c8c-b2de-60496ae0dd5d).html