Ambiguity in Electoral Competition |
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Authors: | Jean-François Laslier |
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Institution: | (1) Laboratoire d’Econométrie, CNRS and Ecole polytechnique, 1 rue Descartes, 75005 Paris, France |
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Abstract: | The paper proposes an explanation to why electoral competition induces parties to state ambiguous platforms even if voters
dislike ambiguity. A platform is ambiguous if different voters may interpret it as different policy proposals. An ambiguous
platform puts more or less emphasis on alternative policies so that it is more or less easily interpreted as one policy or
the other. I suppose that a party can monitor exactly this platform design but cannot target its communications to individuals
one by one. Each individual votes according to her understanding of the parties’ platforms but dislikes ambiguity. It is shown
that this electoral competition has no Nash equilibrium. Nevertheless its max–min strategies are the optimal strategies of
the Downsian game in mixed strategies. Furthermore, if parties behave prudently enough and if the voters aversion to ambiguity
is small enough, these strategies do form an equilibrium. |
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Keywords: | Voting Electoral Competition Ambiguity Prudence Zero-Sum Games |
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