Paying "Cash for Votes"

Autor(en)
Anand Murugesan, Jean-Robert Tyran
Abstrakt

The expression “cash-for-votes” describes a form of vote buying in which candidates for office pay individuals in exchange for their votes. That practice undermines the functioning of democracy but is pervasive in many parts of the world, especially in the Global South. We discuss estimates of cash-for-votes and rational choice theories explaining their existence. Cash-for-votes under secret ballots is puzzling as secret ballots make it impossible to verify an individual’s vote. We discuss the behavioral and experimental literature emphasizing factors such as reciprocity, unsophisticated voting, and inequality aversion, which complement standard economic explanations of the phenomenon.

Organisation(en)
Wiener Zentrum für Experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre
Publikationsdatum
04-2025
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
502027 Politische Ökonomie
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 10 – Weniger Ungleichheiten
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/paying-cash-for-votes(c4243880-c31a-46bf-a129-668650fa6697).html