Self-signaling in voting

Autor(en)
Lydia Mechtenberg, Grischa Perino, Nicolas Treich, Jean-Robert Tyran, Stephanie Wang
Abstrakt

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(en)
Wiener Zentrum für Experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre
Externe Organisation(en)
Universität Hamburg, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Université Toulouse-I-Capitole, University of Pittsburgh
Journal
Journal of Public Economics
Band
231
Anzahl der Seiten
16
ISSN
0047-2727
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105070
Publikationsdatum
03-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
502057 Experimentelle Ökonomie, 502010 Finanzwissenschaft, 502027 Politische Ökonomie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Economics and Econometrics, Finance
Link zum Portal
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/selfsignaling-in-voting(f5e63cfb-5a3f-4c8c-b2de-60496ae0dd5d).html