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on Collective Decision-Making |
| By: | Belguise, Margot (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Far-right voting is stigmatized, yet rising worldwide. Do signals of the far-right’s popularity embolden voters to support it, even in the secrecy of the voting booth? I exploit quasiexperimental variation from the French two-round electoral system. When far-right candidates narrowly win round one—a purely symbolic victory—this brings them more votes in round two, held merely one week later. Evidence aligns with voters attending more to salient signals when they update beliefs about stigma strength. As predicted if voters attach greater weight to more salient signals, more unusual wins have larger effects. Leveraging a large corpus of newspaper articles I scraped, I show that these narrow wins attract media attention, which predicts the vote effect. Consistent with stigma erosion, this effect is specific to the far-right, larger where stigma is likely stronger, and persists in the next election. Using administrative records on campaign funding, I document similar patterns for campaign donations—acts of support that are less secret than votes and may therefore carry larger reputational costs. JEL Codes: P00 ; D72 ; D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1587 |
| By: | Martin Nerlinger (University of St. Gallen - School of Finance; Swiss Finance Institute); Martin Rohleder (University of Augsburg); Marco Wilkens (University of Augsburg); Jonas Zink |
| Abstract: | We examine what drives institutional engagement and voting on ESG-related shareholder proposals, using data from PRI and Morningstar. We find that personal engagement often substitutes for voting, especially among large fund families and those using meetings or site visits. Funds that vote more often or disclose less are less supportive of ESG proposals, while those filing proposals or outsourcing votes show more support. Collaborative engagement and longer PRI membership correlate with stronger ESG voting. Though engagement-active funds don't show major ESG performance gains, they increasingly support firms' ESG improvements, highlighting the role of active ownership in promoting sustainability. |
| Keywords: | active ownership, voting, engagement, disclosure, service providers |
| JEL: | G10 G23 M14 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2589 |
| By: | Francisco Pino; Laura Salisbury |
| Abstract: | Campaign tours have become an essential component of U.S. presidential elections. How and when did they begin? We explore the early history of in-person political campaigning in the United States by reconstructing the first presidential campaign tours from historical newspaper clippings. We analyze the decision to campaign, the determinants of where candidates campaigned, and the outcomes of early in-person campaigns. We document an evolving norm of campaigning. This norm evolved well after the expansion of the railroad network. While a national railroad network was a necessary precondition for campaigning to evolve, our findings point to other factors – such as growing urbanization and the decline of federal patronage machines – playing a more important role in the growth of campaigning. We find evidence that being visited on a campaign tour increased voter turnout in a county. However, we do not find a clear effect of campaign visits of a given candidate on his electoral performance. |
| JEL: | N0 P0 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34447 |