Economics Seminar: Policy Persuasion and Electoral Competition
- When?
- Wednesday 31 October 2012, 12.00
- Where?
- 40 AD 00
- Open to:
- Public, Staff, Students
- Speaker:
- Archishman Chakraborty (Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto)
Dr. Archishman Chakraborty (York University)
"Policy Persuasion and Electoral Competition"
Abstract
What effect does an ideologically biased media expert have on political competition when the expert is informed about the effects of different policies on the welfare of voters? Despite rational voter scepticism about ideologically biased platform endorsements by the media, the response by political parties may have a debilitating effect on electoral outcomes. Parties will promise platforms that provide no choice to the voter in order to neutralize the effect of platform endorsements. At the same time, they will distort their platforms away from what voters would like. This makes voters worse off compared to the case where elections are held under a ban on platform endorsements. In some cases, the response of political parties to anticipated media endorsements may reduce the welfare of even the media expert. Precisely because platform endorsements have a distortive effect on platform choices however, the media has an incentive to provide informative policy advice to political parties and the electorate before parties have decided on their platforms. When the media does not have extreme ideological bias and provides both policy advice and platform endorsements, electoral competition by opportunistic office-seeking parties who do not care directly about voter welfare leads to outcomes that are beneficial for voters. Apparently more ideal forms of democracy may reduce the distortive effect of platform endorsements but they impair policy advice. The resulting information loss makes voters worse off. Modifications to the composition of the electorate, voluntary commitment by the media to moderate its voice, or diversity within the media may also improve the outcome of elections.