Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence from Texas Liquor Referenda

48 Pages Posted: 17 Jan 2002 Last revised: 1 May 2022

See all articles by Stephen Coate

Stephen Coate

Cornell University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Michael Conlin

Syracuse University - Department of Economics

Date Written: January 2002

Abstract

This paper uses data from Texas liquor referenda to explore a new approach to understanding voter turnout, inspired by the theoretical work of Harsanyi (1980) and Feddersen and Sandroni (2001). It presents a model based on this approach and structurally estimates it using the referendum data. It then compares the performance of the model with two alternative models of turnout. The results are encouraging: the structural estimation yields sensible parameter estimates and the model performs better than the two alternatives considered.

Suggested Citation

Coate, Stephen and Conlin, Michael, Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence from Texas Liquor Referenda (January 2002). NBER Working Paper No. w8720, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=297346

Stephen Coate (Contact Author)

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Michael Conlin

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