Ballot Position, Choice Fatigue, and Voter Behaviour

• Autores: Ned Augenblick, Scott Nicholson
• Localización: Review of economic studies, ISSN 0034-6527, Vol. 83, Nº 2, 2016, págs. 460-480
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In this article, we examine the effect of “choice fatigue” on decision making. We exploit a natural experiment in which voters face the same contest at different ballot positions due to differences in the number of local issues on their ballot. Facing more decisions before a given contest significantly increases the tendency to abstain or rely on decision shortcuts, such as voting for the status quo or the first-listed candidate. We estimate that, without choice fatigue, abstentions would decrease by 8%, and 6% of the propositions in our data set would have passed rather than failed.