Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/167489 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 6503
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We examine whether parties punish politicians who vote against the party line in roll-call votes. Using data of German members of parliament over the legislative period 2009-2013, we take into account that the effect of punishment differs along the list of candidates because a candidate is punished more when he loses positions at the threshold of promising list positions. The dataset includes the voting behavior of 257 MPs in 218 roll-call votes. Our results do not show that parties account for the voting behavior by punishing politicians who have voted against the party line. Political parties may attract different groups of voters by tolerating politicians who vote according to their own credo. Qualities other than the voting behavior seem to matter to political parties when nominating candidates.
Subjects: 
voting against the party line
adherence to the party line
roll-call votes
proportional representation
party lists
selectorate
JEL: 
D72
D78
P16
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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