Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
2021 Meeting of the European Public Choice Society, Lille, Fransa, 21 - 22 Nisan 2021
This
paper investigates the relationship between economic adversity and voter
participation in Turkish parliamentary elections. We estimate a dynamic model
of voter turnout rate using a cross-regional panel dataset covering all
parliamentary elections over the 1987-2015 period. In addition to lagged voter turnout to
account for persistency in electoral participation, our models include two
measures of economic adversity, inflation, and economic growth. Empirical results
indicate that inflation has a positive and significant effect on voter turnout,
while economic growth is insignificant in all specifications. Moreover, inflation leads to higher voter
turnout in provinces with a denser population, more urbanization, and more
abundant human capital. Finally, there appears to be persistence in regional
voter turnout rates supporting the habit formation argument. Overall, these
results are consistent with the mobilization hypothesis, which suggests that
adverse economic conditions lead to higher electoral participation by
stimulating voters to punish the government.