Social and Economic Determinants of English Voter Choice in the 1997 General Election

Using a theoretical framework in which voters' choicesare the result of utility maximisation decisions, andin which the variation of utility functions acrossindividuals is partly deterministic (depending ontheir socio-economic characteristics) and partlystochastic, we estimate constituency-level regressionequations to explain how the electoral shares of eachof the main parties depend on conditions in theconstituency. Whilst social characteristics appear tohave an impact similar to that predicted in theexisting literature, economic conditions appear tohave played a very different role in 1997 from inprevious elections.