A citizen candidate model with private information and unique equilibrium

Abstract

We study a citizen candidate model where citizen ideal points are private information and each ideal point is an independent draw from a uniform distribution. We characterize the equilibrium as a function of the entry cost, the office-holding benefit, and the number of citizens. In contrast to the standard citizen candidate models, equilibrium is unique. Entry is from the extremes of the distribution. A citizen enters if and only if her ideal point greater than or equal to some critical distance from the expected median. Expected policies are more extreme as entry costs increase or office-holding benefits decrease, and as the number of citizens increases.

Files

Additional details