Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T09:34:51.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Competition between Specialized Candidates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2010

STEFAN KRASA  and
MATTIAS POLBORN
STEFAN KRASA*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign
MATTIAS POLBORN*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign
*
Stefan Krasa is Professor, Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1407 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801 ([email protected]).
Mattias Polborn is Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Department of Political Science, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1407 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801 ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Opposing candidates for a political office often differ in their professional backgrounds and previous political experience, leading to both real and perceived differences in political capabilities. We analyze a formal model in which candidates with different productivities in two policy areas compete for voters by choosing how much money or effort they would allocate to each area if elected. The model has a unique equilibrium that differs substantially from the standard median voter model. Although candidates compete for the support of a moderate voter type, this cutoff voter differs from the expected median voter. Moreover, no voter type except the cutoff voter is indifferent between the candidates in equilibrium. The model also predicts that candidates respond to changes in the preferences of voters in a very rigid way. From a welfare perspective, candidates are “excessively moderate”: almost certainly, a majority of voters would prefer that the winning candidate focus more on his or her strength.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 104 , Issue 4 , November 2010 , pp. 745 - 765
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2010

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

REFERENCES

Adams, J., and Merrill, S.. 2003. “Voter Turnout and Candidate Strategies in American Elections.” Journal of Politics 65: 161–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ansolabehere, S., and Snyder, J.M.. 2000. “Valence Politics and Equilibrium in Spatial Election Models.” Public Choice 103: 327–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aragones, E., and Palfrey, T.R.. 2002. “Mixed Equilibrium in a Downsian Model with a Favored Candidate.” Journal of Economic Theory 103 (1): 131–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernhardt, D., Duggan, J., and Squintani, F.. 2009. “The Case for Responsible Parties.” American Political Science Review 103: 570–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, T., and Coate, S.. 1997. “An Economic Model of Representative Democracy.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 112: 85–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I. 1993. “Issues, Dimensions, and Agenda Change in Postwar Democracies: Long-term Trends in Party Election Programs and Newspaper Reports in Twenty-three Democracies.” In Agenda Formation, ed. Riker, W.H.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 41–80.Google Scholar
Budge, I., and Farlie, D.J.. 1983. Explaining and Predicting Elections. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Callander, S. 2005. “Electoral Competition in Heterogeneous Districts.” Journal of Political Economy 113: 1116–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, R.L. 1985. “Robustness of the Multidimensional Voting Model: Candidate Motivations, Uncertainty, and Convergence.” American Journal of Political Science 29: 69–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coughlin, P. 1992. Probabilistic Voting Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Damore, D. 2004. “The Dynamics of Issue Ownership in Presidential Campaigns.” Political Research Quarterly 57 (3): 391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixit, A., and Londregan, J.. 1996. “The Determinants of Success of Special Interests in Redistributive Politics.” Journal of Politics 58 (4): 1132–55.Google Scholar
Downs, A. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Egan, P.J. 2008. “Issue Ownership and Representation: A Theory of Legislative Responsiveness to Constituency Opinion.” New York University. Unpublished manuscript.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gans, J., and Smart, M.. 1996. “Majority Voting with Single-crossing Preferences.” Journal of Public Economics 59 (2): 219–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gautier, P., and Soubeyran, R.. 2008. “Political Cycles: Issue Ownership and the Opposition Advantage.” Journal of Public Economic Theory 10 (4): 685–716.Google Scholar
Grofman, B. 2004. “Downs and Two-party Convergence.” Annual Review of Political Science 7: 25–46.Google Scholar
Groseclose, T. 2001. “A Model of Candidate Location When One Candidate Has a Valence Advantage.” American Journal of Political Science 45 (4): 862–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, T., and Humes, B.. 1993. “‘What This Campaign Is All about Is. . .’: A Rational Choice Alternative to the Downsian Spatial Model of Elections.” In Information, Participation, and Choice: An Economic Theory of Democracy in Perspective, ed. Grofman, B.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 141–59.Google Scholar
Krasa, S., and Polborn, M.K.. 2006. “Majority-effciency and competition-effciency in a Binary Policy Model.” Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley. http://escholarship.orgucitem8jd9n1dw (accessed October 17, 2010).Google Scholar
Krasa, S., and Polborn, M.K.. 2009a. “Political Competition between Differentiated Candidates.” University of Illinois. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Krasa, S., and Polborn, M.K.. 2009b. “A Political-economy Model of Taxation and Government Expenditures with Differentiated Candidates.” University of Illinois. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Krasa, S., and Polborn, M.K.. 2010. “The Binary Policy Model.” Journal of Economic Theory 145: 661–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindbeck, A., and Weibull, J.. 1987. “Balanced-budget Redistribution as the Outcome of Political Competition.” Public Choice 52: 273–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindbeck, A., and Weibull, J.. 1993. “A Model of Political Equilibrium in a Representative Democracy.” Journal of Public Economics 51: 195–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinelli, C. 2001. “Elections with Privately Informed Parties and Voters.” Public Choice 108 (1): 147–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Messner, M., and Polborn, M.K.. 2004. “Voting on Majority Rules.” Review of Economic Studies 71 (1): 115–32.Google Scholar
Mirrlees, J. 1971. “An Exploration in the Theory of Optimal Income Taxation.” Review of Economic Studies 38: 175–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborne, M. 1995. “Spatial Models of Political Competition under Plurality Rule: A Survey of Some Explanations of the Number of Candidates and the Positions They Take.” Canadian Journal of Economics 27: 261–301.Google Scholar
Osborne, M., and Slivinski, A.. 1996. “A Model of Political Competition with Citizen Candidates.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 111: 65–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palfrey, T.R. 1984. “Spatial Equilibrium with Entry.” Review of Economic Studies 51: 139–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrocik, J.R. 1996. “Issue Ownership in Presidential Elections, with a 1980 Case Study.” American Journal of Political Science 40 (3): 825–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, W.H. 1993. “Rhetorical Interaction in the Ratification Campaigns.” In Agenda Formation, ed. Riker, W.H.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 81–123.Google Scholar
Riker, W.H. 1996. The Strategy of Rhetoric. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Roemer, J.E. 1994. “A Theory of Policy Differentiation in Single Issue Electoral Politics.” Social Choice and Welfare 11 (4): 355–80.Google Scholar
Roemer, J.E. 2001. Political Competition: Theory and Applications. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Simon, A.F. 2002. The Winning Message: Candidate Behavior, Campaign Discourse, and Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soubeyran, R. N.d. “Does a Disadvantaged Candidate Choose an Extremist Position?” Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Spence, M. 1974. “Competitive and Optimal Responses to Signals: An Analysis of Effciency and Distribution.” Journal of Economic Theory 7: 296–332.Google Scholar
Stokes, D. 1963. “Spatial Models of Party Competition.” American Political Science Review 57 (2): 368–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suellentrop, C. 2004. “The Vanishing Nonvoter: Has Karl Rove Brought Too Many New People to Politics?” Slate, October 31. www.slate.comid2108924/ (accessed October 17, 2010).Google Scholar
Wittman, D. 1983. “Candidate Motivation: A Synthesis of Alternative Theories.” American Political Science Review 77: 142–57.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.