ENDOGENIZING THE MEDIAN VOTER - PUBLIC CHOICE GOES TO SCHOOL

This paper investigates implications of the relationship between voter self-selection and the behavior of politicians. Voter self-selection arises in elections because only a portion of eligible voters actually vote. It is likely to be more pronounced whenever the implied net ben efits from a given electoral choice are disproportionately distributed across voters. Public choice theory predicts that incumbent officials will manipulate this self-election pursuant to the maximization of th eir personal objective functions. This paper provides evidence from sc hool bond elections that politicians influence voter self-selection vi a manipulation of election parameters.