Center for the Study of Democracy

In this paper,I argue that the essential features of political competition are collective decision making and forced consumption of political products that incur conformity costs. A concern about conformity costs motivates citizens to influence policymaking by offering electoral resources. I elaborate this idea into a single spatial model in which citizens are specified not only as voters (consumers) but also as political activists (investors). I find that position taking by a candidate with a valence advantage depends on the types of electoral resources the candidate uses to advertise his valence. If the advantaged candidate depends on exogenous (endogenous) resources, the candidate adopts a more moderate (extreme) policy than the other candidate. This paper also finds a result that has normative implications on theories of representation:the general public is more represented if citizens act as consumers whereas a majority is more represented if citizens act as investors.