{"id":453294,"date":"2026-10-07T13:34:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/publication\/453294\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T13:34:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:34:45","slug":"turnout-why-do-voters-vote-2","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/453294\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnout: Why Do Voters Vote?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-453294","publication","type-publication","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"subtitle":"Why Do Voters Vote?","text":"Within the past seventy years, citizens have cast some twenty-seven billion votes in national elections across the world. This impressive figure would likely double if votes cast in local elections and referenda were included. Electoral participation is a mass phenomenon. However, what exactly motivates people to vote? The question of why people vote has been at the center of positivist political theory. Political scientists and economists have devised numerous theories for why people may or may not vote, in addition to gathering an impressive amount of empirical evidence on the determinants of electoral participation. This chapter offers a bird's-eye view of historical trends in voter turnout, theories of rational voting motivation, and the role of embedding political or socioeconomic environments, as exposed by empirical research.","onlinedate":"2019-02-28 01:00:00","lang":"English","publication_series":"","publication_date":"20190228","publication_date_year":"","publication_date_full":true,"publication_num_pages":"","keywords":"[]","jelcodes":"[]","related_publications":"[]","pdf":null,"zip":null,"link":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780190469733.013.15","monthly_report":false,"monthly_report_main":false,"monthly_report_volume":"","monthly_report_pages":"310-332","monthly_report_pages_sort":"310","issue":"","journal":"","publisher":"Oxford University Press","invisible":false,"external":true,"embargo_date":null,"types":[104524],"research_groups":[3500],"collaboration":"","persons":[3641],"persons_data":"[{\"personId\":3641,\"personName\":\"Serguei Kaniovski\",\"organisationNames\":[]}]","clients":[],"subclients":[],"partners":[],"topics":[],"host_publication_title":"The Oxford Handbook of Public Choice","host_publication_subtitle":"Volume 1","place_of_publication":"","host_publication_editors":"[\"Roger D. Congleton\",\"Bernard Grofman\",\"Stefan Voigt\"]","type_description":"","output_media":"","chapter":"","article_number":"","citations":"","scientific_assistance":"[]","scientific_review":"[]","version":"","release_date":null,"expiration_date":null,"surveyor":"","research_assistance":"","edv":"","additional_info_de":"","additional_info_en":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.3 (Yoast SEO v28.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Turnout: Why Do Voters Vote? - WIFO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/453294\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turnout: Why Do Voters Vote?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/en\/publication\/453294\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WIFO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WIFOat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-07T11:34:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wifo.ac.at\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/WIFO-Gebaeude-FotoAlexanderMueller-www.alexandermueller.at-IMG_6326-Bearbeitet-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WIFOat\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/453294\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.wifo.ac.at\\\/en\\\/publication\\\/453294\\\/\",\"name\":\"Turnout: Why Do Voters Vote? 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