Skip to main content

Political Competition

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
  • 53 Accesses

Abstract

This article is limited to interaction between candidates and voters and examines the cases of two-candidate competition and multiple candidate competition. It employs the spatial model of elections introduced to study single-issue politics and generalized to study multiple-issue politics in order to explain the alternatives strategically offered to voters by candidates or parties competing for electoral office.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 6,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 8,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Austen-Smith, D., and J. Banks. 1988. Elections, coalitions and legislative outcomes. American Political Science Review 82: 405–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, R. 1999. Discontinuity and nonexistence of equilibrium in the probabilistic spatial voting model. Social Choice and Welfare 16: 533–556.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks, J. 1990. A model of electoral competition with incomplete information. Journal of Economic Theory 50: 309–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks, J., and J. Duggan. 2002. A multidimensional model of repeated elections. Working paper. Department of Political Science, University of Rochester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banks, J., and J. Duggan. 2005. Probabilistic voting in the spatial model of elections: The theory of office-motivated candidates. In Social choice and strategic decisions: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey S. Banks, ed. D. Austen-Smith and J. Duggan. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banks, J., J. Duggan, and M. Le Breton. 2002. Bounds for mixed strategy equilibria and the spatial model of elections. Journal of Economic Theory 103: 88–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, D., and D. Diermeier. 2001. Elections, governments and parliaments in proportional representation systems. Quarterly Journal of Economics 116: 933–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Besley, T., and S. Coate. 1997. An economic model of representative democracy. Quarterly Journal of Economics 112: 85–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, D. 1958. The theory of committees and elections. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvert, R. 1985. Robustness of the multidimensional voting model: Candidate motivations, uncertainty and convergence. American Journal of Political Science 29: 69–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coughlin, P. 1992. Probabilistic voting theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Couglin, P., and S. Nitzan. 1981. Electoral outcomes with probabilistic voting and Nash social welfare maxima. Journal of Public Economics 15: 113–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, G. 1987. Electoral equilibrium under alternative voting institutions. American Journal of Political Science 31: 82–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, G. 1990. Centripetal and centrifugal incentives in electoral systems. American Journal of Political Science 34: 903–935.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, G. 1994. Strategic voting equilibria under the single nontransferable vote. American Political Science Review 88: 608–621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, O., and M. Hinich. 1966. A mathematical model of policy formation in a democratic society. In Mathematical applications in political science II, ed. J. Bernd. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, O., and M. Hinich. 1967. Some results related to a mathematical model of policy formation in a democratic society. In Mathematical applications in political science III, ed. J. Bernd. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downs, A. 1957. An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duggan, J., and M. Fey. 2005. Electoral competition with policy-motivated candidates. Games and Economic Behavior 51: 490–522.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duggan, J., and M. Jackson. 2004. Mixed strategy equilibrium and deep covering in multidimensional electoral competition. Working Paper. Department of Political Science, University of Rochester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Enelow, J., and M. Hinich. 1982. Nonspatial candidate characteristics and electoral competition. Journal of Politics 44: 115–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feddersen, T. 1992. A voting model implying Duverger’s Law and positive turnout. American Journal of Political Science 36: 938–962.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feddersen, T. 2004. Rational choice theory and the paradox of not voting: A review. Journal of Economic Perspectives 18: 99–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feddersen, T., and W. Pesendorfer. 1996. The swing voter’s curse. American Economic Review 86: 408–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feddersen, T., and W. Pesendorfer. 1997. Voting behavior and information aggregation in elections with private information. Econometrica 65: 1029–1058.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feddersen, T., I. Sened, and S. Wright. 1990. Rational voting and candidate entry under plurality rule. American Journal of Political Science 34: 1005–1016.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gul, F., and W. Pesendorfer. 2004. Partisan politics and aggregation failure with ignorant voters. Working paper. Princeton: Department of Economics, Princeton University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hotelling, H. 1929. Stability in competition. Economic Journal 39: 41–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, G. 1977. A dynamical model of political equilibrium. Journal of Economic Theory 16: 310–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laffond, G., J.-F. Laslier, and M. Le Breton. 1993. The bipartisan set of a tournament game. Games and Economic Behavior 5: 182–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ledyard, J. 1984. The pure theory of large two-candidate elections. Public Choice 44: 7–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKelvey, R. 1979. General conditions for global intransitivities in formal voting models. Econometrica 47: 1086–1112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKelvey, R. 1986. Covering, dominance and institution-free properties of social choice. American Journal of Political Science 30: 283–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, N. 1980. A new solution set for tournaments and majority voting. American Journal of Political Science 24: 68–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, R. 1999. Theoretical comparisons of electoral systems. European Economic Review 43: 671–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, R. 2000. Large Poisson games. Journal of Economic Theory 94: 7–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myerson, R. 2002. Comparison of scoring rules in Poisson voting games. Journal of Economic Theory 103: 217–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, M., and A. Slivinski. 1996. A model of political competition with citizencandidates. Quarterly Journal of Economics 111: 65–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plott, C. 1967. A notion of equilibrium and its possibility under majority rule. American Economic Review 57: 787–806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Razin, R. 2003. Signaling and election motivations in voting model with common values and responsive candidates. Econometrica 71: 1083–1120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roemer, J. 2001. Political competition: Theory and applications. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schofield, N. 1983. Generic instability of majority rule. Review of Economic Studies 50: 695–705.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittman, D. 1977. Candidates with policy preferences: A dynamic model. Journal of Economic Theory 14: 180–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wittman, D. 1983. Candidate motivation: A synthesis of alternatives. American Political Science Review 77: 142–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Copyright information

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Austen-Smith, D. (2018). Political Competition. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2114

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics