Voting and representative democracy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the political process and how it connects with economic issues. The political process is simply an alternative method of making economic decisions. The chapter focuses on a system in which voters choose legislators, who in turn institute public policy. It explores what the tools of economics reveal about the political process. The chapter discusses the relationship among intercommunity mobility, voluntary community formation, and the efficient provision of public goods. It considers the situation in which residents in a small town are voting in a town meeting on the size of the school budget and explains the more general world of representative democracy. The concept of economic efficiency applies to each and every possible income distribution, although a change in income distribution may alter the precise combination of goods and services that is most efficient. The voting model describes a situation in which voters keep voting for public-service levels until a dominant outcome is reached.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHandbook of Public Sector Economics
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages109-138
Number of pages30
ISBN (Electronic)9781351564342
ISBN (Print)9781574445626
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Social Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Voting and representative democracy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this