Voter Turnout and the Labor Market

Employment, Wages and Voter Turnout

We argue that, since activities providing political information are complementary with leisure, increased labor market activity should lower voter turnout, doing so least in elections with ubiquitous information. Using county-level data, we find that increased wages and employment: reduce gubernatorial turnout; do not affect Presidential turnout; and raise the share of persons casting a Preside...

The Impact of Television Market Size on Voter Turnout in American Elections

Did Ending the Military Draft Reduce U.S. Voter Participation? An Exploratory Investigation

This exploratory study examines the impact of ending the military draft on U.S. voter turnout from 1960 through 2006. After allowing for a number of variables, including the unemployment rate, unionization, the female labor force participation rate, per capita real GDP, and Presidential approval ratings, compelling evidence is found that ending the military draft in the U.S. may have acted in a...

Turnout and the Labor Market

Using county level data from 1969-200 and various OLS and TSLS models, we find that increases in local per capita earnings and employment lowers voter turnout in gubernatorial and Senate elections but has not effect on Presidential turnout. We present a model in which risk-averse agents vote only if sufficiently informed about political candidates. When agents work more, as they do in periods o...

The Dynamics of Voter Turnout and Party Choice

A considerable body of research focuses on why voter turnout changed — specifically, why it declined — in the 1960s and 1970s. Most models of the change focus on factors such as a decline in civic involvement or a shift in the age distribution toward younger citizens who vote less frequently. While these approaches have taught us much about voter turnout, they are puzzling in that none actually...