A cause or a consequence? A quasi-experimental test of the duty-participation nexus. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Feitosa, Fernando; Stiers, Dieter; Dassonneville, Ruth
• Is Part Of: Journal of elections, public opinions & parties. Volume 32:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 439
• Page End: 448
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: Elections -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Political parties -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Public opinion -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1945- -- Periodicals; 324.941086005
• DOI: 10.1080/17457289.2020.1819299
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-7289

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Civic duty has been perceived as a key determinant of turnout. That is, while dutiful citizens turn out in large numbers, those who conceive of voting as a choice do less so. The strong correlation between civic duty and turnout might be due to reverse causation, however. Specifically, individuals might adapt their sense of duty according to previous voting behavior. In this article, we leverage Belgium's compulsory voting system and the age-based discontinuity for the right to vote, and estimate the effects of being treated with participation on civic duty. We do not find "treated" citizens to be more likely to report civic duty than their "non-treated" counterparts. This finding holds across a series of robustness tests, and suggests that civic duty is exogenous to the vote.