New research explores how voters in Romania assess different forms of political corruption during the 2016 local elections. A conjoint experiment embedded within a survey revealed citizens' tolerance varies significantly based on politicians' activities and their impact on voter autonomy.
🔍 Data & Methods
Conducted via candidate choice experiment prior to Romanian local elections in 2016, randomly varying attributes including different illicit electoral activities presented to voters.
📊 Key Findings
• Citizens penalize political malfeasances differently depending on how much they infringe upon voter autonomy.
• Informational campaigns from prosecutorial agencies influence punishment severity for various corrupt acts.
• Voters appear more accepting of certain types of corruption than others when making trade-offs between candidates.
💡 Real-World Significance
The results challenge simplistic views of electoral accountability and illuminate nuanced dynamics in democratic systems where voters often face compromises.
| Voting for the Lesser Evil: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment in Romania was authored by Giancarlo Visconti and Isabela Mares. It was published by Cambridge in PSR&M in 2020. |
