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on Collective Decision-Making |
| By: | Eric Chyn; Kareem Haggag |
| Abstract: | How does one's childhood neighborhood shape political engagement later in life? We leverage a natural experiment that moved children out of disadvantaged neighborhoods to study effects on their voting behavior more than a decade later. Using linked administrative data, we find that children who were displaced by public housing demolitions and moved using housing vouchers are 12 percent (3.3 percentage points) more likely to vote in adulthood, relative to their nondisplaced peers. We argue that this result is unlikely to be driven by changes in incarceration or in their parents' outcomes, but rather by improvements in education and labor market outcomes, and perhaps by socialization. These results suggest that, in addition to reducing economic inequality, housing assistance programs that improve one's childhood neighborhood may be a useful tool in reducing inequality in political participation. |
| Keywords: | political engagement, disadvantaged neighborhood, public housing demolitions, incarceration, Inequality |
| JEL: | D72 H75 I38 J13 R23 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2019-079&r=all |
| By: | Barone, Guglielmo; Kreuter, Helena |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically studies the role of trade globalization in shifting the electoral base towards populism. We proxy trade shock with swiftly rising import competition from China and compare the voting pattern at the parliamentary national elections from 1992 to 2013 in about 8,000 Italian municipalities differently exposed to the trade shock. We instrument import competition with Chinese export flows to other high-income countries and estimate the model in first differences. Our results indicate that trade globalization increases support for populist parties, besides fostering a tendency to cast invalid votes or even abstain from voting. To rationalize these findings, we offer evidence that import competition worsens labor market conditions - higher unemployment, lower income and durable consumption - and increases inequality. Finally, we point out that public expenditure plays a role in mitigating the political consequences of the trade shock, arguably because it alleviates economic distress. |
| Keywords: | trade globalization,populism,inequality,Handelsglobalisierung,Populismus,Einkommensgefälle |
| JEL: | D72 F60 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:uoccpe:1905&r=all |
| By: | Virginie Arantes; Can Zou; Yue Che |
| Abstract: | Complex environmental issues are leading local governments to collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the urban environmental governance sphere. While previous studies have emphasized how the Chinese government engages NGOs in service contracting to meet rising service demands, they have not provided empirical evidence of the outcomes of these collaborations at a local level. Based on a mixed methods research design developed from May 2016 to February 2017 in Shanghai, the impact of Aifen, an environmental NGO, is assessed in the context of municipal solid waste management. A total of 400 questionnaires were completed. 200 questionnaires in 10 communities where Aifen developed its activities and 200 questionnaires in 10 communities where no environmental NGO activities were accomplished. The results show that a local government-NGO collaborative governance approach enhances public participation and respond to state decentralization and rising environmental issues in urban areas. |
| Keywords: | Collaborative governance; NGO; Public participation; Service contracting; Shanghai; Survey questionnaire; Waste management |
| Date: | 2019–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/298771&r=all |
| By: | Jia Liu (Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Halam University); Axel Sonntag (Vienna Center for Experimental Economics, University of Vienna, and Insight Austria, Institute for Advanced Studies); Daniel John Zizzo (School of Economics, University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | We present an experiment that models a repeated public good provision setting where the policymaker or manager does not have perfect control over information flows. Rather, information seeking can be affected by changing the information default as well as the price of information. The default is one either with or without information about others’ contributions, and having information comes with a positive, zero or negative financial incentive. When information comes without a financial incentive or even is financially beneficial, almost all subjects choose to have the information, but around a third have the information even when this is costly. Moreover, a default of not having information about the others’ contributions leads to a slower unravelling of cooperation, independent of the financial incentives of having information. This slower unravelling is explained by the beliefs about others’ contributions in these treatments. A secondary informational default effect appears to take place. When the default is no information, subjects do not seek information more often but, conditional on financial incentives, they tend to believe that more other subjects seek information. |
| Keywords: | noinformation defaults, public good, value of information. |
| JEL: | C91 D83 H41 |
| Date: | 2019–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:613&r=all |
| By: | Lobo-Pulo, Audrey E. (The Australian Public Service); Ribas Fernandes, José J. F. (Canada Energy Regulator); Hester, Annette; Hum, Ryan J. |
| Abstract: | As new digital platforms emerge and governments look at new ways to engage with citizens, there is an increasing awareness of the role these platforms play in shaping public participation and democracy. We examine three case studies on digital engagement (vTaiwan, We the People, and social media), and discuss key considerations for effective public engagement in the digital age: Empowerment, time to deliberate, transparency, useful data, consensus, and dynamic engagement. We hope that these serve as a basis for constructing meaningful engagement. |
| Date: | 2019–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:h2vc4&r=all |
| By: | HARA Keishiro; KITAKAJI Yoko; SUGINO Hiroaki; YOSHIOKA Ritsuji; TAKEDA Hiroyuki; HIZEN Yoichi; SAIJO Tatsuyoshi |
| Abstract: | To ensure sustainability, overcoming intergenerational conflict is vital, and social systems supporting decision-making that takes into account the benefits to future generations is thus critically important. One promising approach in such social systems is introducing "imaginary future generations" who act as representatives for the benefits of future generation in actual, present-day decision making situations. In this study, we explore the effects and implications of participants' experiences as representatives of imaginary future generation. We conducted a citizens' participatory debate on creating a vision and appropriate policies associated with public facilities and housing in a town in Japan, and examined how the thinking patterns and decisions of the participants shifted as a result of debating from the perspectives of both current and imaginary future generations. Based on analyses of a questionnaire and the keywords in answers to a worksheet provided to the participants, we demonstrate that through their experiences as representatives of imaginary future generations, a clear shift in perspective occurred, with increases in self-reflective viewpoint. We also found that the shared viewpoints of the current and future generations existed within the individuals. These findings hint at how we can develop institutions and social systems that facilitate sustainable decision-making. |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:19104&r=all |
| By: | Birgir Guðmundsson (Akureyri University); Vera Kristín Kristjánsdóttir (University of Akureyri); Hafdís Björg Hjálmarsdóttir (Akureyri University) |
| Abstract: | The importance of marketing techniques in political campaigning has increased as communicating politics has become more complex in a highly fragmented media environment. With different media logics interacting in a hybrid media system political marketing methods through social media have drawn considerable attention and even been seen to pose a threat to democratic processes. This paper looks at the extent and nature of the use of marketing techniques in the 2018 municipal elections in Iceland, by using a mixed methods approach. The findings of a candidate survey and interviews with campaign managers suggest that the methods used are by and large a technical extension of previous methods and not qualitatively different from traditional electioneering. Both social media and traditional media are important marketing vehicles, but the importance of social media clearly on the rise. However, in lager communities in the capital region there is a higher degree of professionalism than in other parts of the country and the size of municipality is important, while the type of party or age of candidates is not. |
| Keywords: | Political marketing, micro targeting, social media, traditional media, hybrid media system. |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:9711837&r=all |