This Land is My Land: Property Rights and Voting in Developing Democracies

• In Event: Voting and Accountability

Abstract

A growing political economy literature has focused on the role of property rights and land tenure in influ- encing broader political outcomes. In this paper I add to this literature by examining the role of property rights on voter turnout. Political scientists examining voter turnout have often assumed that property rights are stable and thus a solid staple in any functioning democracy. It is only in recent years that scholars have begun to examine turnout and other types of political behavior in nascent democracies that are really in their infancy when it comes to the development of institutions. The effects of institutions on political behavior are long-established. Property rights represent a different type of institution, sometimes formal and other times not, that can interact with a citizen at the most basic of levels. I am examine this relationship using an original dataset that combines various measures of property rights data with voter turnout measures from developing democracies.

Author

• Cameron Wimpy, Arkansas State University