title: Bounded rationality and voting decisions over 160 years: voter behavior and increasing complexity in decision-making.
abstract: Using a quasi-natural voting experiment encompassing a 160-year period (1848-2009) in Switzerland, we investigate whether a higher level of complexity leads to increased reliance on trusted parliamentary representatives. We find that when more referenda are held on the same day, constituents are more likely to refer to parliamentary recommendations when making their decisions. This finding holds true even when we narrow our focus to referenda with a relatively lower voter turnout on days on which more than one referendum is held. We also demonstrate that when constituents face a higher level of complexity, they follow the parliamentary recommendations rather than those of interest groups. "Viewed as a geometric figure, the ant's path is irregular, complex, hard to describe. But its complexity is really a complexity in the surface of the beach, not a complexity in the ant." ( [1] p. 51).
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Law, Business and Economics, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany ; CREMA - Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stadelmann
authors.affiliation: CREMA - Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts, Basel, Switzerland ; School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia ; EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, Oestrich-Winkel, Germany.
authors.forename: Benno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Torgler
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005103:Expert Systems; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011057:Politics; D013557:Switzerland; D013997:Time Factors