Anchoring Votes: School District Performance Ratings and Bond Referenda-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Anchoring Votes: School District Performance Ratings and Bond Referenda

Published:2021-06 Issue:2 Volume:20 Page:182-213
ISSN:1523-9721
Container-title:Public Finance and Management
language:en
Short-container-title:Public Finance and Management

Author:

Jones Peter A.¹,Greer Robert²,Reitano Vincent³

Affiliation:

1. Department of Political Science & Public Administration University of Alabama at Birmingham

2. Bush School of Government & Public Service Texas A&M University

3. School of Public Affairs & Administration Western Michigan University

Abstract

School district performance ratings are presented on intuitive grading scales. These ratings are widely publicized by local news outlets and can potentially influence voter behavior. Based on behavioral research applied to the local public finance context, we hypothesize that voters will anchor their votes in initial performance ratings even if the performance rating subsequently changes. This article investigates this hypothesis with a panel of all Texas school district bond referenda from 1998 to 2015. Estimates of probit models with careful consideration of selection bias provide support for our anchoring hypothesis. Evidence of anchoring votes, however, is nuanced and varies across two different Texas school district rating systems.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Link

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/152397212102000203

Reference61 articles.

1. The Fiscal Savings Behavior of Pennsylvania School Districts Through the Great Recession

2. "Coherent Arbitrariness": Stable Demand Curves Without Stable Preferences

3. Private demands for public capital: evidence from school bond referenda

4. On the Determination of the Public Debt