How does political unrest influence public policy? We assume that protests are an emotional
reaction to unfair treatment. Individuals have a consistent view of fairness that internalizes …

We study loss aversion in elections by investigating a median voter model (full convergence
in a two‐candidate election) and a model of partial divergence of policy proposals. First, we …

We propose a theory of democratic backsliding where citizens' retrospective assessment of
an incumbent politician depends on expectations that are endogenous to the incumbent's …

Why do office-motivated politicians sometimes espouse views that are non-congruent with
their electorate's? Can non-congruent statements convey any information about what a …

Throughout history, reform has provoked rebellion-not just by the losers from reform, but also
among its intended beneficiaries. Finkel and Gehlbach emphasize that, especially in weak …

Emotions shape strategic conflict dynamics. However, the precise way in which strategic and
emotional concerns interact to affect international cooperation and contention are not well …

This paper studies the effect of voter loss aversion in preferences over both candidate policy
platforms and candidate valence on electoral competition. Loss-aversion over platforms …

We provide a behavioral foundation for audience costs by augmenting the canonical crisis
bargaining model with voters who evaluate material outcomes relative to an endogenous …

Under standard assumptions, costly voting models predict that the supporters of the
underdog–ie, of the candidate that is expected to lose–are less likely to abstain than the …

Recent attempts to weaken constraints of accountability on elected leaders are causing
growing concerns about the state of liberal democracy. Yet, the evidence shows that …