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Electoral System and Number of Candidates: Candidate Entry under Plurality and Majority Runoff

Damien Bol 1 André Blais 1 Jean-François Laslier 2, 3 Antonin Macé 4
1 UdeM - Université de Montréal
2 PSE - Paris School of Economics
3 PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques
4 GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille
Abstract : We know that electoral systems have an effect on the number of competing candidates. However, a mystery remains concerning the impact of majority runoff. According to theory, the number of competing candidates should be equal (or only marginally larger) under majority runoff than under plurality. However, in real-life elections, this number is much higher under majority runoff. To provide new insights on this puzzle, we report the results of a laboratory experiment where subjects play the role of candidates in plurality and majority runoff elections. We use a candidate-only and sincere-voting model to isolate the effect of the electoral system on the decision of candidates to enter the election. We find very little difference between the two electoral systems. We thus re-affirm the mystery of the number of competing candidates under majority runoff.
Keywords : Economie quantitative
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https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01446216
Contributor : Patrice Cacciuttolo <>
Submitted on : Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 4:33:31 PM
Last modification on : Friday, February 5, 2021 - 3:38:16 AM

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  • HAL Id : hal-01446216, version 1

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Damien Bol, André Blais, Jean-François Laslier, Antonin Macé. Electoral System and Number of Candidates: Candidate Entry under Plurality and Majority Runoff. Blais, André and Laslier, Jean-François and Van Der Straeten, Karine. Voting Experiments, Springer International Publishing, pp.303--321, 2016, 978-3-319-40571-1. ⟨hal-01446216⟩

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