On the design of citizens' initiatives in a union of states

Nicola Maaser

doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.035

On the design of citizens' initiatives in a union of states

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Economics and Business Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The paper studies the design of popular initiatives in unions of states. We analyze the effect of state-specific threshold requirements on the incentives of a rational campaign organizer who decides which constituencies to target. If the heterogeneity of preferences in a population increases with its size, degressively proportional thresholds satisfy the normative objective of 'neutrality' between individuals from different states. In contrast, thresholds which are linear in population size are 'neutral' if a priori no differences between states are acknowledged.

Original language	English
Journal	Economics Letters
Volume	120
Issue	1
Pages (from-to)	36-39
Number of pages	4
ISSN	0165-1765
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.035
Publication status	Published - Jul 2013

Keywords

Direct democracy
Initiatives
Political campaigns

Access to Document

10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.035

Cite this

@article{3146c5aefed04b1f84070e46cbf41908,

title = "On the design of citizens' initiatives in a union of states",

abstract = "The paper studies the design of popular initiatives in unions of states. We analyze the effect of state-specific threshold requirements on the incentives of a rational campaign organizer who decides which constituencies to target. If the heterogeneity of preferences in a population increases with its size, degressively proportional thresholds satisfy the normative objective of 'neutrality' between individuals from different states. In contrast, thresholds which are linear in population size are 'neutral' if a priori no differences between states are acknowledged.",

keywords = "Direct democracy, Initiatives, Political campaigns",

author = "Nicola Maaser",

year = "2013",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.035",

language = "English",

volume = "120",

pages = "36--39",

journal = "Economics Letters",

issn = "0165-1765",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - On the design of citizens' initiatives in a union of states

AU - Maaser, Nicola

PY - 2013/7

Y1 - 2013/7

N2 - The paper studies the design of popular initiatives in unions of states. We analyze the effect of state-specific threshold requirements on the incentives of a rational campaign organizer who decides which constituencies to target. If the heterogeneity of preferences in a population increases with its size, degressively proportional thresholds satisfy the normative objective of 'neutrality' between individuals from different states. In contrast, thresholds which are linear in population size are 'neutral' if a priori no differences between states are acknowledged.

AB - The paper studies the design of popular initiatives in unions of states. We analyze the effect of state-specific threshold requirements on the incentives of a rational campaign organizer who decides which constituencies to target. If the heterogeneity of preferences in a population increases with its size, degressively proportional thresholds satisfy the normative objective of 'neutrality' between individuals from different states. In contrast, thresholds which are linear in population size are 'neutral' if a priori no differences between states are acknowledged.

KW - Direct democracy

KW - Initiatives

KW - Political campaigns

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876462281&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.035

DO - 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.035

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84876462281

SN - 0165-1765

VL - 120

SP - 36

EP - 39

JO - Economics Letters

JF - Economics Letters

IS - 1

ER -

On the design of citizens' initiatives in a union of states

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this