"Pendular Voting" presents a novel two-stage voting procedure: A randomly chosen citizen group votes on a proposal replacing the status quo. Depending on the outcome, a "counterproposal" ensues, that is closer to/further away from the status quo than the original proposal. All citizens vote...

The aim of this study was to determine whether referendums affect stock price risks and returns, using an event study approach. Daily end period data for the Swiss stock market index, the STOXX European market index, and the Swiss/US exchange rate running from the beginning of 2004 to June 2021,...

"Pendular Voting" presents a novel two-stage voting procedure: A randomly chosen citizen group votes on a proposal replacing the status quo. Depending on the outcome, a "counterproposal" ensues, that is closer to/further away from the status quo than the original proposal. All citizens vote...

Does self-governance, a hallmark of democratic societies, foster or erode norms of generalized cooperation? Does this effect persist, and if so, why? I investigate these questions using a natural experiment in Switzerland. In the middle-ages, the absence of an heir resulted in the extinction of...

The popularity of staging Olympic Games has dropped in democratic countries as a series of failed referenda and withdrawn bids as well as protests against mega sport events have shown in recent years. Nevertheless, the there still are democratically elected office-holders willing to become...

The UK's decision to leave the EU continues to have major economic, political and social implications. It is therefore unsurprising that the reasons behind Brexit have been widely discussed. However, whilst existing empirical evidence has tended to focus on specific factors, we undertake a...

This paper explores whether professional macroeconomic forecasters manipulate their forecasts to influence voting outcomes. We model a referendum in which a voter chooses between two policies. The voter relies on a forecaster to learn about the macroeconomic consequences of the policies. The...

When a counter-proposal is made to an initiative to change the Swiss constitution, the citizenry makes three binary majority choices: the initiative versus the status quo, the initiative versus the counter-proposal, and the status quo versus the counterproposal as a tie-breaker. If there is a...

In 2010, Georgians voted on a proposed constitutional amendment that would have increased motor vehicle licensing fees by USD 10 with the proceeds dedicated to maintaining and expanding the state's trauma care centers. This paper examines voter support for the referendum across counties and...

North Macedonia and Greece resolved the 27-year country name dispute and removed the main hurdle for North Macedonia to start the accession processes towards the EU and NATO. The paper analyzes the stock market movements around several events related to the name issue resolution to uncover...

The relationship between democracy and regulation is contested. At the federal level, in the absence of a national initiative of referendum process, or democratic control over regulators themselves, we find some democratic accountability in other ways—like the indirect election of the...

Anecdotal evidence on historical suffrage extensions suggests that voters are more reluctant to extend voting rights than politicians. In this paper, we systematically analyze whether and how the extent of direct democracy affects the willingness of the electorate to share political power with...

The project, ”Referendum Poll System,” aims to enforce referendums and enable people to express their opin- ions directly, re-engaging them with politics and democracy. The current representative democracy fails to provide direct participation of people in the decision-making process. Online...

We test whether the proactive use of instruments of direct democracy by voters can help to explain fiscal sustainability of 25 Swiss cantons. Using data of all cantonal popular votes since 1977, our results show that the fiscal reaction of cantonal governments to an increase in the debt to GDP...

By voting to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, the United Kingdom (UK) set off a long period of uncertainty and signalled its support for the Leave campaigns, which centred around restricting migration. This paper researches how this decision affected EU-UK migration patterns. We exploit...

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the secessionist orientation of Kurdistan Region's paradiplomacy in the context of two main variables: the internal structural variables in Iraq after 2003 and the nationalism variable. Design/methodology/approach - This study relies on the theory of...

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the secessionist orientation of Kurdistan Region's paradiplomacy in the context of two main variables: the internal structural variables in Iraq after 2003 and the nationalism variable. Design/methodology/approach - This study relies on the theory of...

We leverage a unique dataset at the municipality level in Italy to examine the factors that drive support for two separate referendum campaigns - one on the decriminalization of cannabis cultivation and the other on physician-assisted suicide. Using machine learning techniques, we identify key...

Since the Council of Europe’s creation in 1950, the share of member states with direct democratic instruments has leaped from 40% to 87% in 2022. This article asks whether the ECHR can accommodate these instruments under Article 3 of Protocol 1, the primary provision available for such...

Olympic bids in the past -- An analytical-hermeneutic methodology -- Referenda in political science and sport governance -- Analysis and discussion of the issue -- Limitations of the work -- Final conclusion -- Implications and further outlook -- References.

Subnational groups employ a variety of strategies to contest governments. While democratic states offer a broader array of accessible options, autocratic regimes are more difficult to contest via conventional means. Why do subnational groups stage sovereignty referendums across regime types? Our...

Subnational groups employ a variety of strategies to contest governments. While democratic states offer a broader array of accessible options, autocratic regimes are more difficult to contest via conventional means. Why do subnational groups stage sovereignty referendums across regime types? Our...

In this paper, we analyze several local referendums on land development and land-use regulation in the City of Erlangen (Germany) in the period between 2011 and 2018. To identify the positive influence of the travel distance on approval for the development of land, we employ a two-way...

Adopting the group turnout model of Herrera and Mattozzi, J. Eur. Econ. Assoc. 2010, 8, 838–871, we investigate direct democracy with supermajority rule and different preference intensities for two sides of a referendum: Reform versus status quo. Two parties spend money and effort to mobilize...

The popularity of staging Olympic Games has dropped in democratic countries as a series of failed referenda and withdrawn bids as well as protests against mega sport events have shown in recent years. Nevertheless, the there still are democratically elected office-holders willing to become...

Does self-governance, a hallmark of democratic societies, foster or erode norms of generalized cooperation? Does this effect persist, and if so, why? I investigate these questions using a natural experiment in Switzerland. In the middle-ages, the absence of an heir resulted in the extinction of...

Democratic direct voting on issues (in the form of referenda) suffers from the tyranny of the majority as well as potentially supporting extremist and populist positions. We state 4 fair voting principles for issue based voting, and show that current direct voting systems are not consistent with...

Why has geographical political polarisation increased in recent times? In a simple model, we show that one catalyst is a social learning mechanism whereby policy preferences become more homogeneous within geographical units, yet increasingly heterogeneous between units over time as voters become...

Auld and Linton (2019) studied the behaviour of the Betfair betting market and the sterling/dollar exchange rate (futures price) during 24 June 2016, the night of the EU referendum. The paper found that both markets appeared to be inefficient but that the currency market was around one hour more...