Data and Code for: Voting for Democracy: Chile’s Plebiscito and the Electoral Participation of a Generation

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Ethan Kaplan, University of Maryland, College Park; Fernando Saltiel, McGill University; Sergio Urzua, University of Maryland

Version: View help for Version V1

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Hacienda			02/23/2022 12:53:PM
Polity			02/23/2022 12:54:PM
SERVEL			02/23/2022 12:56:PM
VotingPaper_Readme.pdf	application/pdf	224.3 KB	04/13/2022 08:29:AM

Project Citation:

Kaplan, Ethan, Saltiel, Fernando, and Urzua, Sergio. Data and Code for: Voting for Democracy: Chile’s Plebiscito and the Electoral Participation of a Generation. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-07-19. https://doi.org/10.3886/E159661V1

Project Description

Summary: This paper assesses the long-term consequences of voting for democracy. We study Chile's 1988 plebiscite, which ended 15 years of dictatorship and reestablished democracy. Taking advantage of individual-level voting data, we implement an age-based RD design comparing long-run registration and turnout rates across marginally eligible and ineligible individuals. We find plebiscite eligibility increased electoral turnout three decades later. The magnitude of the initial mobilization emerges as the mechanism. Plebiscite eligibility induced a sizable share of less educated voters to register compared to other upstream elections. The event contributed to the emergence of one party rule the twenty years following democratization.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Electoral Participation; Voting Determinants; Dictatorship

JEL Classification:
      C21 Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions
      D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
      N46 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Latin America; Caribbean

Geographic Coverage: Chile

Time Period(s): 1988 – 2017

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Published Versions

V1 [2023-07-19]

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