Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T12:46:40.472Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Endogenous Preferences and the Study of Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Elisabeth R. Gerber  and
John E. Jackson
Elisabeth R. Gerber
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
John E. Jackson
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The assumption that individual preferences, or attitudes, are fixed and exogenously determined is central to many studies of political and economic institutions, such as markets and elections. We present a Bayesian model of adaptive preferences and empirical evidence consistent with that model to argue that preferences are not always exogenous and fixed. The changing relationships between partisanship and preferences on civil rights issues between 1956 and 1964 and on the Vietnam War issue between 1968 and 1972 coincide with significant changes in the major parties' positions on these issues, suggesting that preferences are endogenous to the electoral process. We conclude with a discussion of the positive and normative implications of endogenous preferences.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 639 - 656
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achen, Chris. 1992. “Social Psychology, Demographic Variables, and Linear Regression: Breaking the Iron Triangle in Voting Research.” Political Behavior. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Aldrich, John H. 1983. “A Downsian Model with Party Activism.” American Political Science Review 77:974–90.Google Scholar
Arthur, W. Brian, Ermoliev, Y. M., and Kaniovski, Y. M.. 1987. “Path-dependent Processes and the Emergence of Macrostructure.” European Journal of Operational Research 30:294–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. 1993. “Messages Received: The Political Impact of Media Exposure.” American Political Science Review 87:267–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Paul A. 1986. “Choice, Context, and Consequence: Beaten and Unbeaten Paths toward a Science of Electoral Behavior.” In Political Science: The Science of Politics, ed. Weisberg, Herbert. New York: Agathon.Google Scholar
Bishop, George F., Tuchfarber, Alfred J., and Oldendick, Robert W.. 1978. “Change in the Structure of American Political Attitudes: The Nagging Question of Question Wording.” American Journal of Political Science 22:250–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, Randall. 1985. “The Value of Biased Information: A Rational Choice Model of Political Advice.” Journal of Politics 47:530–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmines, Edward C., and Stimson, James A.. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chamberlin, John. 1990. “Formal Political Theory and the Design and Evaluation of Institutions.” In Institutions in American Society, ed. Jackson, John E.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Michael E., and Axelrod, Robert. 1984. “Coping with Complexity: The Adaptive Value of Changing Utility.” American Economic Review 74:30–42.Google Scholar
Cyert, Richard M., and DeGroot, Morris. 1987. Bayesian Analysis and Uncertainty in Economic Analysis. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Davis, Otto A., and Hinich, Melvin J.. 1967. “Some Results Related to a Mathematical Model of Policy Formation in a Democratic Society.” In Mathematical Applications in Political Science, vol. 3., ed Bernd, J.. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.Google Scholar
Davis, Otto A., and Hinich, Melvin J.. 1968. “On the Power and Importance of the Mean Preference in a Mathematical Model of Democratic Choice.” Public Choice 5:59–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Otto A., Hinich, Melvin J., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1970. “An Expository Development of a Mathematical Model of the Electoral Process.” American Political Science Review 64:426–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Michael. 1992. Behind the Mule. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Downs, Anthony. 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Enelow, James, and Hinich, Melvin. 1981. “A New Approach to Voter Uncertainty in the Downsian Spatial Model.” American Journal of Political Science 25:483–93.Google Scholar
Enelow, James, and Hinich, Melvin. 1982. “Nonspatial Candidate Characteristics and Electoral Competition.” Journal of Politics 44:115–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enelow, James, and Hinich, Melvin. 1984a. The Spatial Theory of Voting. Boston: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Enelow, James, and Hinich, Melvin. 1984b. “Probabilistic Voting and the Importance of Centrist Ideologies in Democratic Elections.” Journal of Politics 46:459–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enelow, James, and Hinich, Melvin. 1989. “A General Probabilistic Spatial Theory of Elections.” Public Choice 61:101–13.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., and Romero, David W.. 1990. “Candidate Equilibrium and the Behavioral Model of the Vote.” American Political Science Review 84:1103–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, Charles H. 1989. “Estimation across Datasets: Two-Stage Auxiliary Instrumental Variables Estimation.” Political Analysis 1:1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franklin, Charles H., and Jackson, John E.. 1983. “The Dynamics of Party Identification.” American Political Science Review 77:957–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, Elisabeth R., and Lupia, Arthur. 1992. “Competitive Campaigns and the Responsiveness of Collective Choice.” Social Science Working Paper No. 813. California Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Hawthorne, Michael R., and Jackson, John E.. 1987. “The Individual Political Economy of Federal Tax Policy.” American Political Science Review 81:757–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herring, George C. 1986. America's Longest War: The United States in Vietnam, 1950–1975. 2d ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Hinich, Melvin. 1977. “Equilibrium in Spatial Voting: The Median Voter Result Is an Artifact.” Journal of Economic Theory 16:208–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinich, Melvin. 1978. “The Mean Versus the Median in Spatial Voting Games.” In Game Theory and Political Science, ed. Ordeshook, Peter C.. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1973. “Intensities, Preferences, and Electoral Politics.” Social Science Research 2:231–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1975a. “Issues, Party Choices, and Presidential Votes.” American Journal of Political Science 19:161–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1975b. “Issues and Party Alignment.” In Electoral Studies Yearbook, vol. 1, ed. Maisel, Louis and Sacks, Paul. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1979. “Statistical Estimation of Possible Response Bias in Close-ended Issue Questions.” Political Methodology 6:393–423.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1988. “Preference Evolution among the Mass Public, 1956–1964.” Political Methodology 11:221–47.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1990. “Institutions in American Society: An Overview.” In Institutions in American Society Essays in Market, Political, and Social Organizations, ed. Jackson, John E.. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1991. “Endogenous Voter Preferences and Party Strategies.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1992a. “Estimating Models with Variable Coefficients.” Political Analysis 3:34–50.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E. 1992b. “Attitudes, No Opinions, and Guesses.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Kessel, John. 1988. Presidential Campaign Politics. Chicago: Dorsey.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. 1949. Southern Politics. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., and Kiewiet, D. R.. 1979a. “Sociotropic Politics: The American Case.” British Journal of Political Science 11:11–26.Google Scholar
Kinder, Donald R., and Kiewiet, D. R.. 1979b. “Economic Discontent and Political Behavior: The Role of Personal Grievances and Collective Economic Judgements in Congressional Voting.” American Journal of Political Science 23:495–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kramer, Gerald H. 1983. “The Ecological Fallacy Revisited: Aggregate- Versus Individual-level Findings on Economics and Elections, and Sociotropic Voting.” American Political Science Review 77:92–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lunch, William L., and Sperlich, Peter W.. 1979. “American Public Opinion and the War in Vietnam.” Western Political Quarterly 32:21–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, Arthur. 1992. “Busy Voters, Agenda Control, and the Power of Information.” American Political Science Review 86:390–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCloskey, Herbert, Hoffman, Paul J., and O'Hara, Rosemary. 1960. “Issue Conflict and Consensus Among Party Leaders and Followers.” American Political Science Review 54:406–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1985. “Elections with Limited Information: A Fulfilled Expectations Model Using Contemporaneous Poll and Endorsement Data as Information Sources.” Journal of Economic Theory 36:55–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1986. “Information, Electoral Equilibria, and the Democratic Ideal.” Journal of Politics 48:909–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
March, James G., and Olsen, Johan P.. 1984. “The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life.” American Political Science Review 78:734–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Warren E., and Jennings, M. Kent. 1986. Parties in Transition. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Mueller, John E. 1973. War, Presidents, and Public Opinion. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1986. “An Agenda for the Study of Institutions.” Public Choice 48:3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plott, Charles R. 1967. “A Notion of Equilibrium and Its Possibility Under Majority Rule.” American Economic Review 57:787–806.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1980. “Implications from the Disequilibrium of Majority Rule for the Study of Institutions.” American Political Science Review 74:432–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, William H., and Ordeshook, Peter C.. 1973. An Introduction to Positive Political Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice–Hall.Google Scholar
Rivers, Douglas R. 1988. “Heterogeneity in Models of Electoral Choice.” American Journal of Political Science 32:737–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, David O. et al. 1979. “Whites' Opposition to ‘Busing’: Self-interest or Symbolic Politics?” American Political Science Review 73:369–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, David O. et al. 1980. “Self-Interest Versus Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting.” American Political Science Review 74:670–84.Google Scholar
Sullivan, John L., Piereson, James E., and Marcus, George E.. 1978. “Ideological Constraint in the Mass Public: A Methodological Critique and Some New Findings.” American Journal of Political Science 22:233–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Brody, Richard A., Parker, Edwin B., Nie, Norman H., Polsby, Nelson W., Ekman, Paul, and Black, Gordon S.. 1967. “Public Opinion and the War in Vietnam.” American Political Science Review 61:317–33.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q., and Banfield, E. C.. 1964. “Public Regardingness as a Value Premise in Voting Behavior.” American Political Science Review 58:876–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittman, Donald. 1983. “Candidate Motivation: A Synthesis of Alternative Theories.” American Political Science Review 77:142–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Gerald C. 1977. “Contextual Models of Electoral Behavior: The Southern Wallace Vote.” American Political Science Review 71:497–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zaller, John. 1991a. Elite Discourse and Public Opinion. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zaller, John. 1991b. “Information, Values, and Opinion.” American Political Science Review 85:1215–38.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.