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Do TV Debates Sway Voters?

by Danielle Kost

As Democratic presidential candidates face off at the podium, Vincent Pons reports that TV debates don’t influence voters. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Vote Choice Formation and the Minimal Effects of TV Debates: Evidence from 61 Elections in 9 OECD Countries

by Caroline Le Pennec-Caldichoury and Vincent Pons

This study of 61 elections around the world finds that vote choices aggregate a lot of information obtained during the electoral season, but the contribution of TV debates to this process is negligible.

Can Biometric Tracking Improve Healthcare Provision and Data Quality? Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control in India

by Thomas Bossuroy, Clara Delavallade, and Vincent Pons

This paper shows the benefits of biometric technology for strengthening service delivery and improving reliability of government data. The technology improved productivity of health workers operating tuberculosis treatment centers and decreased misreporting.

Strict ID Laws Don’t Stop Voters: Evidence from a U.S. Nationwide Panel, 2008–2016

by Enrico Cantoni and Vincent Pons

Evidence on the consequences of strict ID laws adopted between 2008 and 2016 shows no significant negative effect on registration or turnout overall or for any subgroup defined by age, gender, race, or party affiliation. ID requirements had no significant effect on actual or perceived fraud, either.

Voter ID Laws Don't Work (But They Don't Hurt Anything, Either)

by Sean Silverthorne

Voter ID laws are often proposed as an antidote to election fraud. There's just one problem, according to Vincent Pons. They don't work. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Rankings Matter Even When They Shouldn't: Bandwagon Effects in Two-Round Elections

by Vincent Pons and Clémence Tricaud

Results of the French parliamentary and local elections since 1958 show that candidates ranked higher in the first round are more likely to stay in the race for the second round and win it. Arriving first instead of second and second instead of third increases winning by 5.8 and 9.9 percentage points, respectively.

Should US Companies Still Care About the Paris Climate Change Agreement?

Re: Vincent Pons

American President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change one year ago. Vincent Pons discusses what it means for US business leaders in confronting environmental challenges. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

7 Effective Ways to Lead Teams

by Sean Silverthorne

Managers of teams require communications skills, organizational capabilities, and a knack for judging how people might work together. Research from Harvard Business School investigates the challenges of team leadership. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Expressive Voting and Its Cost: Evidence from Runoffs with Two or Three Candidates

by Vincent Pons and Clémence Tricaud

This paper highlights the motivations and consequences of citizens voting for lower-ranked candidates in elections held under plurality rule. Findings show that a large fraction of voters are what the authors call expressive. Expressive voters vote for their favorite candidate even if it causes the defeat of their second-best choice.

Why People Don’t Vote--and How a Good Ground Game Helps

by Michael Blanding

Recent research by Vincent Pons shows that campaigners knocking on the doors of potential voters not only improves overall turnout but helps individual candidates win more of those votes. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

The Perils of Building Democracy in Africa

by Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons, and Tavneet Suri

Results from a text messaging experiment conducted before the 2013 National Election in Kenya show that basic information provided via short message service (SMS) resulted in small turnout increases but had a large effect on attitudes towards electoral institutions.

Voter Registration Costs and Disenfranchisement: Experimental Evidence from France

by Celine Braconnier, Jean-Yves Dormagen, and Vincent Pons

In most democracies, voter registration is automatic and done by the state. But in a few others, such as the United States and France, registration is self-initiated: citizens who wish to vote must register first, and they need to do so again each time they move. This study examines the effects of canvassing and home registration of unregistered and misregistered citizens in 10 French cities.

Diversity and Team Performance in a Kenyan Organization

by Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons, and Tavneet Suri

A key question in organizations is whether there is an optimal balance between diversity and sameness within teams of workers. Findings from a field experiment within a nonprofit research organization based in Kenya suggest much of the tradeoff between diversity and sameness may come from the different effects diversity has along different dimensions of organizational structure. Diversity along the organization’s hierarchy improves both effort and performance.

Do Interactions with Candidates Increase Voter Support and Participation? Experimental Evidence from Italy

by Vincent Pons

Elections in established democracies regularly attract less than half of the voting-age population. This low electoral participation raises concerns for the overall legitimacy and stability of the democratic regimes. This study of a mid-sized city in northern Italy during the 2014 municipal elections finds that while volunteers’ visits increased participation by a significant 1.8 percentage points, surprisingly the candidates’ own visits affected neither the average voter nor any subgroup of the population, whether defined by age, gender, place of birth, or turnout history.

Will a Five-Minute Discussion Change Your Mind? A Countrywide Experiment on Voter Choice in France

by Vincent Pons

A countrywide field experiment conducted during François Hollande's door-to-door campaign for the 2012 French presidential election finds that one-on-one discussions with campaigners have strong potential to shift people's decisions even when the principal's control on campaign agents is limited. The implications reach beyond political campaigns to persuasive communication directed at consumers, donors, or investors.

The Problem with Productivity of Multi-Ethnic Teams

by Michael Blanding

Ethnically diverse teams can be less productive than more homogenous teams, according to research in Kenya by Vincent Pons. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.