Jörgen Weibull

General seminars
amse seminar

Jörgen Weibull

Stockholm School of Economics
On the political economy of democracy in higher dimensions
Joint with
Atahan Afsar
Venue

IBD Amphi

Îlot Bernard du Bois - Amphithéâtre

AMU - AMSE
5-9 boulevard Maurice Bourdet
13001 Marseille

Date(s)
Monday, May 5 2025| 11:30am to 12:45pm
Contact(s)

Nicolas Clootens: nicolas.clootens[at]univ-amu.fr
Romain Ferrali: romain.ferrali[at]univ-amu.fr

Abstract

Many countries have in recent years experienced political polarization and difficulties in government formation. Political candidates and parties differ not only in the traditional left-right dimension but also concerning environmental issues, gender roles, cultural values, migration, international trade, defense etc. To label certain new parties “extreme right wing”, as many journalists do, is an over-simplification due to the presumed one-dimensionality of the political space. Moreover, an often neglected but arguably important phenomenon is abstention from voting because of alienation. In this study we outline a mathematical framework for the analysis of direct and representative democracy in a multidimensional political space with endogenous voter abstention due to alienation. Our approach combines methods from non-cooperative and cooperative game theory, geometry, and random-utility theory. We illustrate the framework by an application to the current Swedish parliament.