Economic and elections in Spain (1982–2008): Cross-measures,cross-time

In other leading Western democracies, the effects of economic voting are well-established. However, for Spain, a strong scholarly current argues against economic voting in that nation. Unfortunately, these various studies are limited, because they are based on incomplete survey cross-sections, which use individual subjective measures of the economy. We employ a full survey pool (of eight elections, 1982–2008), to examine the effects of two national economic measures (one objective and one subjective). In a carefully specified, and estimated, general voting model, the impact of economic conditions, variously measured, reveals itself to be statistically and substantively significant. After all, national economic voting in Spain appears to operate much as it does elsewhere.     

Becoming black,becoming president

ABSTRACT

Speculation about the relationship between Barack Obama's election to the presidency and race in the United States was rife prior to, during and after his successful campaign. King looks at three aspects of this issue. First, as a kind of outsider, Obama had to prove himself black enough for African Americans of the traditional sort and not too dangerous for Whites. How did he achieve this? Second, Obama's election was made possible by changes in the voting behaviour of white Americans, particularly in the North, and the way that African Americans like Obama gained a foothold in, and at times control of, urban political machines, such as, in his case, Chicago. How have American historians treated this shift in white voting behaviour? Finally, the central question of how race still impinges on President Obama's performance as president. King concludes with a look at issues such as colour blindness and whiteness, the nature of black political identity and solidarity, and the variety of political roles from which a black leader such Obama can choose.     

资本多数决的限制与小股东权益保护

资本多数决原则在公司议事中的正当运用,能有力地保障公司经营决策的高效运行,但实践中,不泛对该原则的滥用,由此导致损害小股东利益的现象频发,挫伤了小股东的投资热情。为依法保护小股东的利益,应逐步完善相关立法,赋予股东与其所持股份相一致的表决权,明确大股东在行使表决权时所应承担的义务,以实现权利与义务的制衡;赋予小股东特定情形下的股份收买请求权;限制大股东的表决权;加强对股东会决议的监督;同时,赋予小股东在特定情形下提起派生诉讼的权利。     

论累积投票制度在我国现阶段的重构——兼评公司法第106条之规定

公司法立足于保护中小股东利益,借鉴外国的立法例规定了累积投票制度条款。然累积投票制度存废一直存在争议,又公司法采用了许可性累积投票制度,这种立法例是否妥适？立足于中国现状,通过分析累积投票制度的功能,参照各方争论,认为目前我国应当采用区别累积投票制度强制性规范。     

From uninformed to informed choices: Voters,pre-election polls and updating

Pre-election opinion poll results for U.S. presidential contests have large variation in the early parts of the primary campaigns, yet pre-election opinion polls later in the campaign are typically within several percentage points of the actual outcome of the contest in November. This paper argues this trend demonstrates that voters are beginning to poll “correctly” – that is, to ascertain their most-preferred candidate. This convergence process is consistent with boundedly rational voters making decisions with low information. We examine the process by which voters can use opinion polls to guide their candidate choice. We undertake a series of laboratory experiments where uninformed voters choose between two candidates after participating in a series of pre-election polls. We demonstrate that voters update their beliefs about candidate locations using information contained in the opinion polls. We compare two behavioral models for the updating process and find significant evidence to support a boundedly rational Bayesian updating assumption. This assumption about the updating process is key to many theoretical results which argue that voters have the potential to aggregate information via a coordination signal and for their beliefs to converge to the true state of the world. This finding also indicates that uninformed voters are able to use pre-election polls to help them make correct decisions.     

A God of Vengeance and of Reward? Voters and Accountability

Theories of democratic politics prize congruence between citizens’ preferences and their elected representatives’ actions in office. Elections are a critical means for achieving such policy congruence, providing voters the opportunity to chasten representatives who are out of step with constituent preferences and to reward the faithful. Do voters act this way? Recent studies based on observational data find they do, but these data are somewhat limited. We employ a survey experiment to estimate the extent to which information about policy congruence affects voters’ evaluations of representatives. We informed some subjects how often their member of Congress’s voting decisions match their own stated preferences on the same policies. We find that information about congruence enhances accountability by affecting constituent evaluations of representatives and may also affect citizens’ propensity to participate in upcoming elections.     

发达国家的公共产品生命周期分析

本文围绕政府公共产品生命周期的概念 ,分别勾勒出了公共产品的质量和数量与其生命周期的函数变化的简单图象 ,并在对这两种简单图象进行描述、分析和解释的基础上得出以下结论 :在成本一定的前提条件下 ,发达国家公共产品的生命周期越短 ,公共产品的质量越高 ,公共产品质量改进越快     

透过新闻看我国选举制度的理论与实践

选举权之权态不仅仅是"投票选举"(此仅为投票权),还包括投票必需之知情、获得允诺等权态,以及作为保障与救济之需的对选任对象的任职考核、罢免等权态;被选举权之权态也不仅仅是"被选举为"(此仅为当选权),尚包括作为当选前提之参选、竞选、候选等权态,以及当选之后的任职、辞职等权态。选举活动被当成组织的人事安排活动,存在极大的道德风险,同时也使国家面临政治民主虚化的风险。     

Policy Voting in Senate Elections: The Case of Abortion

Questions about whether voters rely on their policy preferences when casting ballots have been present since scholars first began examining the determinants of voting behavior. This paper seeks to contribute to research in this area by analyzing abortion policy voting in Senate elections. Specifically, I investigate how the effects of national party position divergence, candidate position divergence, and voter information and salience moderate the relationship between abortion policy preferences and vote choice. The results suggest that the national parties' divergence on abortion does not directly strengthen the connection between abortion policy preferences and ballot decisions. Instead, candidate contrast appears to be the key. And, well informed and motivated voters are especially responsive. Taken together, the findings illuminate the nature of abortion policy voting and also inform the burgeoning scholarship on campaign effects, the role of information, and issue publics in American politics.