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  4. Shirk or Work? On How Legislators React to Monitoring
 
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Shirk or Work? On How Legislators React to Monitoring

Series
SEPS Discussion Paper
Type
discussion paper
Date Issued
2017-11
Author(s)
Hofer, Katharina Eva  
Abstract
In 2014 the Swiss Upper House introduced an electronic voting system, which would make it easier to monitor the voting behavior of its legislators. In this system, individual decisions on specific exogenously defined vote types are published automatically, while all other votes are not publicly disclosed. The present paper uses this institutional change to determine, in a quasi-experimental setting, whether the monitoring of parliamentary voting influences legislators? incentives to participate in floor votes. In addition, video recordings of all sessions are used to determine pre- and post-reform attendance rates during secret votes.

Attendance rates increase once legislators are subject to monitoring. This result cannot be explained by anticipation effects of the reform, the introduction of an electronic voting system, or election cycles. Attendance rises more among legislators who depend more heavily on their political career (full-time politicians, those with few interest groups, and incumbents running for re-election) than among their peers with better outside career options. Moreover, when voting is monitored, legislators abstain less and vote more often in line with their party majority.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Economic Policy
Publisher place
University of St.Gallen
Number
no. 2016 - 16
Pages
48
Official URL
https://www.unisg.ch/-/media/dateien/unisg/studium/doktorat/pef/placements/hofer_job-market-paper_2017.pdf?la=en&hash=D0F887E94684ED5864ED7A849A84CB873A22627A
URL
https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/101843
Subject(s)

economics

Division(s)

SEW - Swiss Institute...

Eprints ID
249966
File(s)
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open.access

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Hofer_Job Market Paper_2017.pdf

Size

575.5 KB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

27cb03536ee0342c608f40ab157d6944

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