American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Employment, Wages, and Voter Turnout
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
(pp. 111–43)
Abstract
Using county-level data across several decades, and various OLS and TSLS models, we find that higher local wages and employment lower turnout in elections for governor, senator, US Congress and state House of Representatives, but have no effect on presidential turnout. We also find that the share of people voting in one election but not in another on the same ballot increases as local labor market conditions improve. We argue that these results are most consistent with information-based models of voting, and use individual level panel data to show that increased employment lowers media usage and political knowledge.Citation
Charles, Kerwin Kofi, and Melvin Stephens Jr. 2013. "Employment, Wages, and Voter Turnout." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 5 (4): 111–43. DOI: 10.1257/app.5.4.111Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief
- J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics