Polarization, Number of Parties, and Voter Turnout: Explaining Turnout in 26 OECD Countries

Political economists studying industrialized countries have claimed that certain institutional characteristics of governments—such as majority status, the number of parties in government, and stability—affect levels of public deficits. They have specifically argued that weak/unstable governments produce higher deficits than strong/stable ones. The author tests the validity of such claims by examining empirical data from 18 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries between 1961 and 1994. It is shown that evidence does not support the “deficit-prone weak governments” thesis. If anything, there is some evidence to suggest that deficits are lower under what political economists call “weak/unstable governments,” such as minority governments, coalition governments, or less durable governments. It is further shown that there is extremely limited evidence to support another line of argument: that the strength/stability of governments does not necessarily create deficits but does affect the nature of adjustment paths to economic shocks and that weak/unstable governments are less capable of reducing deficits once they are created or the economy gets thrown off track.

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Electoral and Party Systems

The United States and Canada ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190870829.003.0003 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 48-78

Author(s):

André Blais ◽

Shaun Bowler ◽

Bernard Grofman

Keyword(s):

Voter Turnout ◽

Party System ◽

National Level ◽

Party Systems ◽

The United States ◽

Party Competition ◽

Colonial Legacy ◽

Electoral Laws ◽

Number Of Parties ◽

The U.S

Electoral laws are often regarded as the key factors structuring party competition. Yet, despite having very similar electoral systems, reflecting a shared colonial legacy, the United States (U.S.) and Canada have had very different party systems. For the past 100 years, the U.S. is perhaps the most consistently two-party system among the world’s major democracies, but during this same period Canada has experienced considerable variation in the number of parties represented in Parliament at the national level. This chapter addresses both the causes and consequences of this puzzling divergence in party systems in the two countries. We also compare a number of other features of the two nation’s electoral institutions, including campaign finance rules, rules for constituency boundary drawing, bicameralism, and the mechanism for the selection of the executive, with particular attention to the U.S. Electoral College and its alleged link with two-partyism. We also examine the policy consequences of the divergence in party systems and look at the way in which party competition in the two countries may affect voter turnout.

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Inclusive development. How is Poland doing in comparison to other OECD countries?

Nierówności społeczne a wzrost gospodarczy ◽

10.15584/nsawg.2020.3.17 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (3) ◽

pp. 318-333

Author(s):

Anita Szymańska ◽

◽

Małgorzata Zielenkiewicz ◽

Keyword(s):

Voter Turnout ◽

Wealth Distribution ◽

Labour Productivity ◽

Oecd Countries ◽

Social Progress ◽

Inclusive Development ◽

Main Hypothesis ◽

Taxonomic Methods ◽

The Government ◽

Earnings Dispersion

Inclusive development is a multifaceted conception, which makes it difficult to measure. Recent years, however, have brought some proposals for measuring this phenomenon, which opens up new opportunities to deepen the knowledge of how countries are doing in making their economic and social progress more inclusive. The aim of the paper is to examine the level of advancement of inclusive development in Poland in comparison to other OECD countries. The main hypothesis states that the development in Poland is less inclusive than the OECD average. The research covers data from 30 countries (OECD members, excluding the countries where such data were unavailable), and is based on the OECD’s proposal of measurement. The study was conducted with the use of data normalisation into unified indices, taxonomic methods (cluster analysis based on the Ward hierarchic method), and comparative analysis. The results indicate areas of improvement for Poland. These are issues connected with the functioning of the labour market (the level of labour productivity, employment ratio, earnings dispersion), access to loans for starting or expanding businesses, but also life expectancy, wealth distribution, early childhood education and care, and, most of all, characteristics related to the area of governance, such as trust in the government, and voter turnout.

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What Affects Voter Turnout? A Review Article/Meta-Analysis of Aggregate Research

Government and Opposition ◽

10.1017/gov.2016.30 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 698-722 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Daniel Stockemer

Keyword(s):

Voter Turnout ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Local Level ◽

Electoral System ◽

Current Theory ◽

Compulsory Voting ◽

Behavioural Research ◽

Strong Consensus ◽

Electoral Turnout ◽

Number Of Parties

For more than 40 years, studies trying to explain macro-level electoral turnout have been one of the pillars of political behavioural research. From January 2004 to December 2013 alone, more than 130 articles were published in peer-reviewed journals using turnout at the national, regional or local level as the dependent variable. This meta-analysis tries to synthesize the results of these studies. I find there is a strong consensus in the literature that turnout is higher under compulsory voting, if the election is important, and if it is held in a small country. I also find that the influence of most other predictor variables, including the type of electoral system, the number of parties, development, income inequalities and electoral closeness is inconclusive at best. These results hint at the fact that the determinants of turnout might be more complex than the current theory suggests and is rather more context dependent.

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The Political Consequences of the Alternative Vote: Lessons from Western Canada

Canadian Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0008423904030227 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 647-669 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Harold J. Jansen

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Social Structure ◽

Voter Turnout ◽

Electoral System ◽

System Change ◽

The Political ◽

Western Canada ◽

Political Consequences ◽

Alternative Vote ◽

Number Of Parties

Abstract. The alternative vote (AV) is an increasingly popular proposal for electoral reform, largely due to Australia's success with it. This article considers the experiences of Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia with AV in past provincial elections. AV had little impact on proportionality and voter turnout, but did contribute to significantly higher rates of ballot rejection. AV was associated with an increase in the number of parties competing in elections, but this is more likely due to a changing social structure than electoral system change. AV facilitated coalitions where incentives to cooperate already existed, as in British Columbia, but it did little to encourage or induce coalitions in Alberta and Manitoba. On balance, it differed little from the single member plurality system.Résumé. Le vote préférentiel (PV) est une proposition de plus en plus populaire de réforme électorale. Son attrait s'explique en grande partie par son succès en Australie. Cet article étudie les expériences de VP lors d'élections provinciales au Manitoba, en Alberta et en Colombie-Britannique. Le VP a eu peu de répercussions sur la proportionnalité et sur la participation électorale, mais a contribué à augmenter considérablement le nombre de bulletins de vote rejetés. On observe, en association avec le VP, une augmentation du nombre des partis en présence, mais ceci était vraisemblablement dû à l'évolution des structures sociales plus qu'au changement du système électoral. Le VP a facilité les coalitions lorsque des raisons de coopérer existaient déjà, comme en Colombie-Britannique, mais n'a guère encouragé ni provoqué de coalitions en Alberta ni au Manitoba. En définitive, la différence avec le système majoritaire uninominal a été négligeable.

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SimBetaReg Web-Tool: The Easiest Way to Implement the Beta and Simplex Regression Models

Symmetry ◽

10.3390/sym13122437 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 2437

Author(s):

Emrah Altun ◽

Mahmoud El-Morshedy

Keyword(s):

Civic Engagement ◽

Educational Attainment ◽

Operating Systems ◽

Voter Turnout ◽

Regression Models ◽

Oecd Countries ◽

Web Tool ◽

Software Support ◽

Response Variable

When the response variable is defined on the (0,1) interval, the beta and simplex regression models are commonly used by researchers. However, there is no software support for these models to make their implementation easy for researchers. In this study, we developed a web-tool, named SimBetaReg, to help researchers who are not familiar with programming to implement the beta and simplex regression models. The developed application is free and works independently from the operating systems. Additionally, we model the incidence ratios of COVID-19 with educational and civic engagement indicators of the OECD countries using the SimBetaReg web-tool. Empirical findings show that when the educational attainment, years in education, and voter turnout increase, the incidence ratios of the countries decrease.

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