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What is the monetary value of a vote in todays society?

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  • 11-10-2009 8:45pm
    #1
    Pleo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 53 ✭✭


    What is the monetary value of a vote in todays society?


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    #2
    PomBear
    Registered Users Posts: 1,885 ✭✭✭PomBear


    if someone gave every elegible voter €2 to vote BNP for the next Dail, i'd imagine BNP would get 66-75% of the votes


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    #3
    meglome
    Registered Users Posts: 7,980 ✭✭✭meglome


    PomBear wrote: »
    if someone gave every elegible voter €2 to vote BNP for the next Dail, i'd imagine BNP would get 66-75% of the votes

    I think this opinion says more about you than anybody else.


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    #4
    andrew
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 3,372 Mod ✭✭✭✭andrew


    That's a pretty interesting question I think. Personally, in the Lisbon Referenda, I would've put a much higher monetary value on my vote than I would place on my vote in the next general election - I cared a lot more about the issues at hand in the referendum. In the next general election I don't get the feeling that there's anyone worth voting for really.

    It'd be interesting to see how a market based election would work out though. I wonder have any studies on the economics of this been done?.... Maybe you'd get better responses on the economics forum.


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    #5
    cavedave
    Registered Users Posts: 2,164 ✭✭✭cavedave


    Great question

    A quick look at some of the results here.
    Say you take the average number of votes that you would need to switch to get an election. Lets say 800 votes you would need to swing. If you can swing this number then you get 100k + expenses for 4 years. Now you would be working another job instead of being a TD but I'll ignore that.

    So if the best loser could switch 800 of the worst td's votes she would gain 400k. So thats about 500 euro per switched vote. Now a corrupt politician could earn a lot more then there salary from dodgy dealings.


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    #6
    Kama
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,027 ✭✭✭Kama


    Kinda interesting question. I guess the 'answer' would be you take the total funding on promotion of the candidate, and work out the ratio of votes/euros. It won't be a consistent number, but you can look at an approximate range.

    I'm pretty sure this kind of mentality is quite widespread in 'poitical engineering' or campaigning proper, and fairly instrumentally successful.


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    #7
    Time Magazine
    Registered Users Posts: 8,452 ✭✭✭Time Magazine


    According to Benoit and Marsh, the cost of a marginal vote in the 2002 General Election was €3.57 for "challengers" and €5.56 for incumbents. The equivalent figures for US Congressional Elections (Erikson & Palfrey, 2000) are $24 and $46.


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    #8
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,508 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    Pleo wrote: »
    What is the monetary value of a vote in todays society?

    If it's the same as those world cup 1990 tokens, then 0.01p. But the actual value is so much more.


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    #9
    lmimmfn
    Registered Users Posts: 3,553 ✭✭✭lmimmfn


    Time Magazine wrote: »
    According to Benoit and Marsh, the cost of a marginal vote in the 2002 General Election was €3.57 for "challengers" and €5.56 for incumbents. The equivalent figures for US Congressional Elections (Erikson & Palfrey, 2000) are $24 and $46.
    I dont get that, by 'marginal' do you mean the decisive votes?


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    #10
    Time Magazine
    Registered Users Posts: 8,452 ✭✭✭Time Magazine


    lmimmfn wrote: »
    I dont get that, by 'marginal' do you mean the decisive votes?

    No. The thing isn't linear, so your first €1000 gets you a lot more votes than your tenth €1000. By "marginal", the authors mean "at the margin", so on average if a politician spends €3.57/€5.56 more, they can expect one more vote.


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