The Economic Origin of Political Parties

Cover
Title page
Copyright page
The Economic Origins of Political Parties
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Argument
1.2 Outline
2 The Onset of Electoral Contestation
2.1 The Spread of Electoral Contestation
2.2 A Model of Electoral Competition
2.3 Changes in the Structural Basis of the Party System
2.4 Literacy, the Press, and Electoral Contestation
2.4.1 Voter Registration
2.4.2 Decline in the Cost of Printed Material
2.5 Data, Measures and Methods
2.5.1 Contestation
2.5.2 Structural Bias
2.5.3 Illiteracy and Media PenetrationIlliteracy
Newspaper Stamps and Titles
2.5.4 Control Variables
2.5.5 Methods
2.6 Results
2.7 Mechanisms
2.7.1 The Impact of Newspapers
2.7.2 Literacy, Voter Registration, and the Incumbency Advantage
The Extent of the Franchise
The Interaction between Illiteracy and Incumbency
2.8 Conclusion
3 The Economics of Elections
3.1 Data Sources
3.2 Average Costs over Time
3.2.1 Estimating Candidates’ Cost Functions
The Marginal Effect of Money on Votes
3.2.2 The Marginal Effect of Money on Votes Over Time
3.3 Budget Constraints
3.4 Conclusion
4 Slate Formation
4.1 Parties and Slates
4.2 Slates and Financial Free-riding
4.3 A Model of Slate Formation
4.4 Testing the Cost-sharing and CredibleCommitment Argument
4.4.1 Estimation Strategy
4.5 Results
4.5.1 Split Voting and Slate Formation
4.5.2 Additional Implications
The Financial Returns
The Electoral Returns
The Institutionalization of Party Slates
4.5.3 Alternative Mechanisms
Political Culture
Central Party Direction
Ideology and Policy
The Extension of the Franchise and Registration Societies
4.6 Conclusion
5 Conclusion
5.1 Summary and Conclusions
5.2 Implications and Relevance: A Comparisonto Modern India
5.3 Final Words
Bibliography
Acknowledgments