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Legislature Integration and Bipartisanship: A Natural Experiment in Iceland

Author

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  • Matthew Lowe
  • Donghee Jo
Abstract
Nearly all legislatures segregate politicians by party. We use seating lotteries in the Icelandic Parliament to estimate the effects of seating integration on bipartisanship. When two politicians from different parties are randomly assigned to sit together, they are roughly 1 percentage point more likely to vote alike. Despite this effect, other-party neighbors do not affect general bipartisan voting, as measured by the likelihood that a politician deviates from their party leader’s vote. Furthermore, the pair-level similarity effect is temporary, disappearing the following year. The pattern of results support cue-taking and social pressure as mechanisms for the effects of proximity.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Lowe & Donghee Jo, 2021. "Legislature Integration and Bipartisanship: A Natural Experiment in Iceland," CESifo Working Paper Series 9452, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9452
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Ximeng Fang & Sven Heuser & Lasse S. Stötzer, 2023. "How In-Person Conversations Shape Political Polarization: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Nationwide Initiative," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 270, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.

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    Keywords

    polarization; integration; intergroup contact; voting;
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