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Buying Supermajorities
Abstract
Minimal winning coalitions have appeared as a key prediction or as an essential assumption of virtually all formal models of coalition formation, vote buying, and logrolling. Notwithstanding this research, we provide a model showing that supermajority coalitions may be cheaper than minimal winning coalitions. Specifically, if vote buyers move sequentially, and if the losing vote buyer is always granted a last chance to attack the winner's coalition, then minimal winning coalitions will generally not be cheapest, and equilibrium coalitions will generally not be minimal winning. We provide results relating equilibrium coalition size with preferences of the legislators and vote buyers, and we show that minimal winning coalitions should occur in only rare cases. We discuss these results in light of empirical work on coalition size and suggest other possible avenues for testing our model.
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Cited by
How to Subvert Democracy: Montesinos in Peru
McMillan, J., & Zoido, P. (2004) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/0895330042632690 · Cited by 475
Power to the Parties: Cohesion and Competition in the European Parliament, 1979–2001
HIX, S., NOURY, A., & ROLAND, G. (2005) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123405000128 · Cited by 448
The Executive Toolbox: Building Legislative Support in a Multiparty Presidential Regime
Raile, E. D., Pereira, C., & Power, T. J. (2011) · Political Research Quarterly · doi:10.1177/1065912909355711 · Cited by 294
“Plata o Plomo?”:Bribe and Punishment in a Theory of Political Influence
DAL BÓ, E., DAL BÓ, P., & DI TELLA, R. (2006) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055406061995 · Cited by 264
Informational Lobbying and Legislative Voting
Schnakenberg, K. E. (2017) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12249 · Cited by 145
Metadata
- Authors
- Groseclose, T., & Snyder, J. M.
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1996-06
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 303-315
- ISSN
- 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5943
- OpenAlex
- W4249939522
- Cited by
- 428
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 8.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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