Endogenous Institutions: The Origins of Compulsory Voting Laws
@inproceedings{Meguid2007EndogenousIT, title={Endogenous Institutions: The Origins of Compulsory Voting Laws}, author={Bonnie M. Meguid and Gretchen Helmke}, year={2007} }
Between 1862 and 1998, 20 democracies adopted compulsory voting laws, the majority in Western Europe and Latin America. Although there is a broad literature on the effects of compulsory voting on voter turnout, far less is known about when and why compulsory voting has been adopted. Using an original cross-national dataset on compulsory voting laws combined with in-depth historical analyses of out-of-sample cases, we find evidence that strategic considerations – whether parties believe they…
21 Citations
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