Electoral Institutions

We investigate the causal impacts of electoral institutions such as compulsory voting and direct democracy.

Direct Democracy

Direct democracy provides a significant barrier to naturalization, especially for marginalized immigrant groups.

Publication

external page Does Direct Democracy Hurt Immigrant Minorities? Evidence from Naturalization Decisions in Switzerland

Resources

external page Video

Voting

Compulsory voting mobilizes citizens at the bottom of the income distribution and significantly increases electoral support for leftist policy positions in referendums.

Publikation

external page Does Compulsory Voting Increase Support for Leftist Policy?

Media Coverage: external page The New York Times, external page The Washington Post, external page The Economist?

A move from closed-list to open-list competition is likely to be more favorable to parties with more internal disagreement on salient issues.

Publication

external page Open / Closed List and Party Choice: Experimental Evidence from the UK

Compulsory voting increases political participation in direct democracies. The effect disappears as soon as voting is no longer compulsory.

Publication

external page Compulsory Voting, Habit Formation, and Political Participation

The use of a Voter Advice Application strengthens the vote intention for the most preferred party and increases the number of parties considered as potential vote options.

Publication

external page The Impact of Personalized Information on Vote Intention: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment