Quality Control
Experiments on the Microfoundations of Retrospective Voting

This Element, develops a new framework for studying retrospective voting and present eleven experiments building on that framework.

Austin Ray Hart (Author), J Scott Matthews (Author)

9781009357036, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 June 2023

75 pages
27 x 18 x 0.7 cm, 0.15 kg

Conventional models of voting behavior depict individuals who judge governments for how the world unfolds during their time in office. This phenomenon of retrospective voting requires that individuals integrate and appraise streams of performance information over time. Yet past experimental studies short-circuit this 'integration-appraisal' process. In this Element, we develop a new framework for studying retrospective voting and present eleven experiments building on that framework. Notably, when we allow integration and appraisal to unfold freely, we find little support for models of 'blind retrospection.' Although we observe clear recency bias, we find respondents who are quick to appraise and who make reasonable use of information cues. Critically, they regularly employ benchmarking strategies to manage complex, variable, and even confounded streams of performance information. The results highlight the importance of centering the integration-appraisal challenge in both theoretical models and experimental designs and begin to uncover the cognitive foundations of retrospective voting.

1. Introduction
2. The Case for Abstract Experimental Design
3. Experimental Framework
4. Retrospective Voting: Tests of Integration and Appraisal
5. Retrospective Voting under Interdependence
6. Heuristics and the Problem of Bad Benchmarks
7. Conclusion
References.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC]