I consider a two-candidate plurality-rule election in which there is aggregate uncertainty about the popularity of each candidate, where voting is costly, and where participants are instrumentally motivated. The unique equilibrium predicts significant turnout under reasonable parameter configurations, and greater turnout for the underdog offsets the expected advantage of the perceived leader. I...

Numerous studies have found a negative relationship between the closeness of an election, the size of the electorate and voter turnout. It is often claimed that this relationship supports the rational voter hypothesis, with closeness and size proxying for the decisiveness of a vote. We offer a different interpretation. Larger communities are more heterogeneous than smaller ones, and turnouts ar...

We examine state legislator behavior on restrictive voter identification (ID) bills from 2005 to 2013. Partisan polarization of state lawmakers on voter ID laws is well known, but we know very little with respect to other determinants driving this political division. A major shortcoming of extant research evaluating the passage of voter ID bills stems from using the state legislature as the uni...

Modern ventilators are increasingly compact and able to deliver a wide range of ventilator modes sophisticated monitoring capabilities. However, the global availability is woefully short demand. Data on intensive care units (ICUs), proxy measure for hospital capacity in low middle-income countries (LMIC's), suggest that extremely limited where it exists at all. In LMIC's, four most common indic...

We use laboratory experiments to test for one of the foundations of the rational voter paradigm —that voters respond to probabilities of being pivotal. We exploit a setup that entails stark theoretical effects of information concerning the preference distribution (as revealed through polls) on costly participation decisions. The data reveal several insights. First, voting propensity increases s...

This paper investigates the ways in which grants can be incorporated into the median voter model of local government expenditure. Grants can either be viewed as having income or price effects. Oakes suggested grants might affect the average price as perceived by the median voter. Our initial estimates seem to support this idea. However, econometric problems require a re-estimation of the model....

A journalist reports to a voter on an unknown, policy-relevant state. Competing special interests can make claims that contradict the facts but seem credible to the voter. A reputational incentive to avoid taking sides leads the journalist to report special interests' claims to the voter. In equilibrium, the voter can remain uninformed even when the journalist is perfectly informed. Communicati...