Voting and Abstaining in the U.S. Senate: Mr. Downs Goes to Washington

Boudreaux, Christopher; Coats, R. Morris; Walia, Bhavneet

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2182923

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Voting and Abstaining in the U.S. Senate: Mr. Downs Goes to Washington

Voting and Abstaining in the U.S. Senate: Mr. Down's Goes to Washington. (2011). Southern Business and Economic Journal. 1 (34), 55-72.

18 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2012 Last revised: 4 Feb 2016

See all articles by Christopher Boudreaux

Bhavneet Walia

Kansas State University - Department of Economics

Date Written: November 30, 2012

Abstract

Rothenberg and Sanders (2000a) find little support for a Downsian theory of voter participation in the (104th) U.S. House of Representatives. Vote abstentions are common in legislative bodies. In the 2nd session of the 110th United States Senate, for example, the abstention rate was approximately 0.057. The present paper uses logistic regression models with fixed effects as well as random effects in an alternative legislative setting to determine whether vote participation in the 110th Senate conforms to “Downsian rationality.” Throughout the analysis, we find substantial evidence that legislators in the 2nd session of the 110th Senate made vote participation decisions in a manner consistent with Downsian rationality.

Keywords: Calculus of Voting, Senate, Shirking, Logit, Closeness, Expressive Voting, Instrumental Voting

JEL Classification: C23, D72, H70

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Boudreaux, Christopher and Coats, R. Morris and Walia, Bhavneet, Voting and Abstaining in the U.S. Senate: Mr. Downs Goes to Washington (November 30, 2012). Voting and Abstaining in the U.S. Senate: Mr. Down's Goes to Washington. (2011). Southern Business and Economic Journal. 1 (34), 55-72. , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2182923 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2182923