The use of contingent valuation (CV) methods to estimate benefits has become increasingly common in project analysis. Ever since the NOAA Blue Ribbon Panel Report in 1993 (NOAA, 1993) recommended the use of the referendum form of CV, it seems to have become the method of choice in practical settings. Referendum-type questions are thought to be easier to answer than the open-ended variety. But t...

All modern democracies rely on representatives to formulate and administer policies. Representative government takes advantage of division of labor: a small group of experts can develop expertise in policy, freeing everyone else to pursue other tasks. The downside is that elected officials may fail to pursue the interests of voters. A popular remedy for the ills of representative government is ...

We explore the quality of political representation of constituents’ preferences for budgetary decisions within a quasi-experimental setting. In the Swiss referendum process, constituents reveal their preferences for budgetary proposals which are either expected to increase or decrease public debts. We match individual politicians’ voting behavior on debt increasing and debt reducing legislative...

This paper compares the performance of simple voting rules, called referenda, to the performance of interim eÆcient mechanisms for the provision of a public good. In a referendum, voters simply vote for or against the provision of the public good, and production of the public good depends on whether or not the number of yes votes exceeds a prespeci ed threshold. Costs are shared equally. We sho...

This paper compares the performance of simple voting rules, called referenda, to the performance of interim efficient mechanisms for the provision of a public good. In a referendum, voters simply vote for or against the provision of the public good, and production of the public good depends on whether or not the number of yes votes exceeds a prespecified threshold. Costs are shared equally. We ...

This paper looks at the results of the referendum on the United Kingdom membership to the European Union in order to test the link between the internationalization of the local economy and the openness of the local society as factors associated with the Leave vote (Brexit). The paper compares a number of alternative explanations put forward in the public debate after the referendum. The empiric...

We consider a society confronting the decision of accepting or rejecting a list of (at least two) proposals. Assuming separability of preferences, we show the impossibility of guaranteeing Pareto optimal outcomes through anonymous referendum voting, except for the case of an odd number of voters confronting precisely two proposals. In this special case, majority voting is the only anonymous soc...

One important consideration when studying direct democracy is the rules on agenda establishment. In their seminal series of articles, Romer and Rosenthal (1978, 1979) identified the ability of a budget maximizing monopolist referendum agenda-setter to extract a greater amount of expenditure than desired by the median voter. While in Romer and Rosenthal’s models, the agenda setter exercised cont...

In Spaulding v. Blair' the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit determined that the mere submission to state-wide referendum of a proposed open-housing act for final approval by the voters, under the procedure outlined in Article XVI of the Maryland Constitution, was not a violation of fourteenth amendment rights and could not be enjoined. During its 1967 session the Maryland General Assembl...

he Referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, held on J . 8th September, 1983, endorsed by a two-to-one majority the insertion into the Constitution of Ireland a clause concerning the right to life of the unborn. A feature of the poll that has attracted considerable attention was the low turnout. Only 54.6 per cent of the electorate voted in the Referendum, and the high abstention ...