Short Term Political Memory and the Inevitability of Polarization
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this paper we explore the effect of short memories on political outcomes in a model in which politics is viewed as a collective learning process . We analyse a dynamic model in which voters use past observations to learn about the optimal policy and political parties are self-interested, with polarised ideal policies. Voters balance party loyalty with a desire to vote for the party whose policy is based on a better interpretation of past observations. We show that short-term memory leads to political cycles of polarisation and convergence. Historical periods of convergence lead parties to polarise, whereas periods of polarisation imply convergence of platforms. Our framework also allows us to model the strategic use of biased histories and narratives in political competition, such as the use of nostalgia.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | July 22, 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Levy, Gilat |
|---|---|
| Author | Razin, Ronny |
| Organizer of meeting | Acharya, Avidit |
| Organizer of meeting | Callander, Steve |
| Organizer of meeting | Eraslan, Hülya |
| Organizer of meeting | Foarta, Dana |
| Organizer of meeting | Palfrey, Thomas |
Subjects
| Subject | economics |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Working paper |
| Genre | Grey literature |
Bibliographic information
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- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Levy, G. and Razin, R. (2022). Short Term Political Memory and the Inevitability of Polarization. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/mn911bp6747
Collection
SITE Conference 2021
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