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  4. November 2017
  5. Ideology as Opinion: A Spatial Model of Common-Value Elections

American Economic Journal:
Microeconomics

ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)

Ideology as Opinion: A Spatial Model of Common-Value Elections

  • Joseph McMurray
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 9, no. 4, November 2017
(pp. 108–40)
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Abstract

Spatial election literature attributes voters' political differences to irreconcilable conflicts of interest. Alternatively, voters may merely hold differing beliefs regarding which policies best promote the public interest, as in the classic common-value model of Condorcet (1785). This paper shows how a spatial version of the common-value model explains empirical patterns of public opinion, ideology, electoral margins, and participation that are puzzling from the standard perspective, suggesting that voters may implicitly view politics as a contest between truth and error. If so, this has important consequences for political analysis.

Citation

McMurray, Joseph. 2017. "Ideology as Opinion: A Spatial Model of Common-Value Elections." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 9 (4): 108–40. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20160040

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D71 Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
  • D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
  • D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
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