Richard Öhrvall
Biographic Data
| ID | 290095 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Richard Öhrvall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Richard |
| FAMILY NAME | Öhrvall |
| SIGNATURE | ÖHRVALL R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Linköping University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0806-5664 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 189 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Close actions speak louder than distant words? The effect of local parties on voter turnout in Swedish local elections 1994–2018
Does the presence of local political parties increase turnout in municipal elections? A handful of previous studies have found that local parties indeed have this effect. Against that backdrop, we examine the impact of the rapid growth in the number of local parties on voter turnout in Swedish local elections. We test the so-called "best of both worlds" hypothesis, which predicts that the presence of local parties – alongside lists of local branc…
The Voter Next Door: Stigma Effects on Advance Voting for Radical Right Parties
Despite the influence of stigmatization on vote choices, little attention has been given to the impact of social stigma on voters’ selection of voting procedures. To bridge this gap, our study focuses on Sweden, where the open-display ballot system at polling stations potentially compromises vote secrecy. Using survey data from the Swedish National Election Studies in 2014 and 2018, we examine the relationship between citizens’ voting procedure c…
Geographical Tensions Within Municipalities? Evidence from Swedish Local Governments☆
When Sweden transformed its geography of local government in 1952 and 1962-1974, the number of municipalities was reduced from 2,498 to 278. The reforms were infused by the 'central place theory,' which aimed to identify a larger town as the 'local capital' (centralort) for each municipality. The centralort became the municipalities' political and administrative center, responsible for providing public services to surrounding settlements. Taking …
Birth Order and Voter Turnout
Previous studies have stressed the role of a child's family environment for future political participation. This field of research has, however, overlooked that children within the same family have different experiences depending on their birth order. First-borns spend their first years of life without having to compete over their parents' attention and resources, while their younger siblings are born into potential rivalry. We examine difference…
Big Brother Sees You, but Does He Rule You? The Relationship between Birth Order and Political Candidacy
While recent research finds strong evidence that birth order affects outcomes such as education, IQ scores, earnings, and health, the evidence for effects on political outcomes is more limited. Using population-wide data from Sweden, our within-family estimates show that firstborns are significantly more likely to run for and be elected to political office. In addition, for the males in our sample we test whether a number of potential mechanisms …
Practice makes voters? Effects of student mock elections on turnout
Student mock elections are conducted in schools around the world in an effort to increase political interest and efficacy among students. There is, however, a lack of research on whether mock elections in schools enhance voter turnout in real elections. In this article, we examine whether the propensity to vote in Swedish elections is higher among young people who have previously experienced a student mock election. The analysis is based on uniqu…
More politicians, more corruption: Evidence from Swedish municipalities
In the literature on political economy and public choice, it is typically assumed that government size correlates positively with public corruption. The empirical literature, however, is inconclusive, owing to both measurement problems and endogeneity. This paper creates a corruption index based on original data from a survey covering top politicians and civil servants in all Swedish municipalities. The effect of more politicians on corruption pr…
Voter Turnout
For several decades, Sweden has had a relatively high voter turnout, both in relation to the first half of the twentieth century and in comparison with other countries. Still, even in this high-turnout context substantial differences in turnout can be found when comparing different population groups. Demographic characteristics and socioeconomic resources are related to the propensity to vote. A more general conclusion is that voter turnout is as…
Distrust in Utopia? Public Perceptions of Corruption and Political Support in Iceland before and after the Financial Crisis of 2008
In the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century Iceland was ranked as the least corrupt country in the world by Transparency International and enjoyed top positions in most comparative indices of governance and development. In 2008 the banking system collapsed and the country found itself in a serious financial crisis, a crisis which some observers believe was caused by clientelism and other forms of behaviour related to corruption.…
The single-issue party thesis and the Sweden Democrats
Does Election Day weather affect voter turnout? Evidence from Swedish elections
Voter Turnout and Political Equality: Testing the ‘Law of Dispersion’ in a Swedish Natural Experiment
According to the ‘law of dispersion’, the level of inequality in political participation is higher when voter turnout is low. We empirically test this hypothesis by evaluating levels of voter turnout in the 2010 Swedish election to the Västra Götaland county council and in the 2011 re-election for the same county council. The re-election voter turnout was reduced by almost half, from 80.6 per cent to 44.1 per cent. Our results support the law of …
Anti-Immigrant Parties, Local Presence and Electoral Success
Does the local organisational presence of anti-immigrant parties affect their chances for electoral success? In order to answer this question, the article explores the potential of a supply-oriented explanation to anti-immigrant party success by examining the electoral advancements the Sweden Democrats (SD) made in the 2006 and 2010 elections. Our results indicate that traditional demand-side explanations to anti-immigrant party success can be su…
Voter Turnout
For several decades, Sweden has had a relatively high voter turnout, both in relation to the first half of the twentieth century and in comparison with other countries. Still, even in this high-turnout context substantial differences in turnout can be found when comparing different population groups. Demographic characteristics and socioeconomic resources are related to the propensity to vote. A more general conclusion is that voter turnout is as…
Does Election Day weather affect voter turnout? Evidence from Swedish elections
Voter Turnout and Political Equality: Testing the ‘Law of Dispersion’ in a Swedish Natural Experiment
According to the ‘law of dispersion’, the level of inequality in political participation is higher when voter turnout is low. We empirically test this hypothesis by evaluating levels of voter turnout in the 2010 Swedish election to the Västra Götaland county council and in the 2011 re-election for the same county council. The re-election voter turnout was reduced by almost half, from 80.6 per cent to 44.1 per cent. Our results support the law of …
The single-issue party thesis and the Sweden Democrats
Geographical Tensions Within Municipalities? Evidence from Swedish Local Governments☆
When Sweden transformed its geography of local government in 1952 and 1962-1974, the number of municipalities was reduced from 2,498 to 278. The reforms were infused by the 'central place theory,' which aimed to identify a larger town as the 'local capital' (centralort) for each municipality. The centralort became the municipalities' political and administrative center, responsible for providing public services to surrounding settlements. Taking …
Birth Order and Voter Turnout
Previous studies have stressed the role of a child's family environment for future political participation. This field of research has, however, overlooked that children within the same family have different experiences depending on their birth order. First-borns spend their first years of life without having to compete over their parents' attention and resources, while their younger siblings are born into potential rivalry. We examine difference…
More politicians, more corruption: Evidence from Swedish municipalities
In the literature on political economy and public choice, it is typically assumed that government size correlates positively with public corruption. The empirical literature, however, is inconclusive, owing to both measurement problems and endogeneity. This paper creates a corruption index based on original data from a survey covering top politicians and civil servants in all Swedish municipalities. The effect of more politicians on corruption pr…
Anti-Immigrant Parties, Local Presence and Electoral Success
Does the local organisational presence of anti-immigrant parties affect their chances for electoral success? In order to answer this question, the article explores the potential of a supply-oriented explanation to anti-immigrant party success by examining the electoral advancements the Sweden Democrats (SD) made in the 2006 and 2010 elections. Our results indicate that traditional demand-side explanations to anti-immigrant party success can be su…
Practice makes voters? Effects of student mock elections on turnout
Student mock elections are conducted in schools around the world in an effort to increase political interest and efficacy among students. There is, however, a lack of research on whether mock elections in schools enhance voter turnout in real elections. In this article, we examine whether the propensity to vote in Swedish elections is higher among young people who have previously experienced a student mock election. The analysis is based on uniqu…
Distrust in Utopia? Public Perceptions of Corruption and Political Support in Iceland before and after the Financial Crisis of 2008
In the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century Iceland was ranked as the least corrupt country in the world by Transparency International and enjoyed top positions in most comparative indices of governance and development. In 2008 the banking system collapsed and the country found itself in a serious financial crisis, a crisis which some observers believe was caused by clientelism and other forms of behaviour related to corruption.…
Big Brother Sees You, but Does He Rule You? The Relationship between Birth Order and Political Candidacy
While recent research finds strong evidence that birth order affects outcomes such as education, IQ scores, earnings, and health, the evidence for effects on political outcomes is more limited. Using population-wide data from Sweden, our within-family estimates show that firstborns are significantly more likely to run for and be elected to political office. In addition, for the males in our sample we test whether a number of potential mechanisms …
The Voter Next Door: Stigma Effects on Advance Voting for Radical Right Parties
Despite the influence of stigmatization on vote choices, little attention has been given to the impact of social stigma on voters’ selection of voting procedures. To bridge this gap, our study focuses on Sweden, where the open-display ballot system at polling stations potentially compromises vote secrecy. Using survey data from the Swedish National Election Studies in 2014 and 2018, we examine the relationship between citizens’ voting procedure c…
Anti-Immigrant Parties, Local Presence and Electoral Success
Does the local organisational presence of anti-immigrant parties affect their chances for electoral success? In order to answer this question, the article explores the potential of a supply-oriented explanation to anti-immigrant party success by examining the electoral advancements the Sweden Democrats (SD) made in the 2006 and 2010 elections. Our results indicate that traditional demand-side explanations to anti-immigrant party success can be su…
Voter Turnout and Political Equality: Testing the ‘Law of Dispersion’ in a Swedish Natural Experiment
According to the ‘law of dispersion’, the level of inequality in political participation is higher when voter turnout is low. We empirically test this hypothesis by evaluating levels of voter turnout in the 2010 Swedish election to the Västra Götaland county council and in the 2011 re-election for the same county council. The re-election voter turnout was reduced by almost half, from 80.6 per cent to 44.1 per cent. Our results support the law of …
The single-issue party thesis and the Sweden Democrats
Does Election Day weather affect voter turnout? Evidence from Swedish elections
Voter Turnout
For several decades, Sweden has had a relatively high voter turnout, both in relation to the first half of the twentieth century and in comparison with other countries. Still, even in this high-turnout context substantial differences in turnout can be found when comparing different population groups. Demographic characteristics and socioeconomic resources are related to the propensity to vote. A more general conclusion is that voter turnout is as…
Distrust in Utopia? Public Perceptions of Corruption and Political Support in Iceland before and after the Financial Crisis of 2008
In the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century Iceland was ranked as the least corrupt country in the world by Transparency International and enjoyed top positions in most comparative indices of governance and development. In 2008 the banking system collapsed and the country found itself in a serious financial crisis, a crisis which some observers believe was caused by clientelism and other forms of behaviour related to corruption.…
More politicians, more corruption: Evidence from Swedish municipalities
In the literature on political economy and public choice, it is typically assumed that government size correlates positively with public corruption. The empirical literature, however, is inconclusive, owing to both measurement problems and endogeneity. This paper creates a corruption index based on original data from a survey covering top politicians and civil servants in all Swedish municipalities. The effect of more politicians on corruption pr…
Practice makes voters? Effects of student mock elections on turnout
Student mock elections are conducted in schools around the world in an effort to increase political interest and efficacy among students. There is, however, a lack of research on whether mock elections in schools enhance voter turnout in real elections. In this article, we examine whether the propensity to vote in Swedish elections is higher among young people who have previously experienced a student mock election. The analysis is based on uniqu…
Big Brother Sees You, but Does He Rule You? The Relationship between Birth Order and Political Candidacy
While recent research finds strong evidence that birth order affects outcomes such as education, IQ scores, earnings, and health, the evidence for effects on political outcomes is more limited. Using population-wide data from Sweden, our within-family estimates show that firstborns are significantly more likely to run for and be elected to political office. In addition, for the males in our sample we test whether a number of potential mechanisms …
Birth Order and Voter Turnout
Previous studies have stressed the role of a child's family environment for future political participation. This field of research has, however, overlooked that children within the same family have different experiences depending on their birth order. First-borns spend their first years of life without having to compete over their parents' attention and resources, while their younger siblings are born into potential rivalry. We examine difference…
Geographical Tensions Within Municipalities? Evidence from Swedish Local Governments☆
When Sweden transformed its geography of local government in 1952 and 1962-1974, the number of municipalities was reduced from 2,498 to 278. The reforms were infused by the 'central place theory,' which aimed to identify a larger town as the 'local capital' (centralort) for each municipality. The centralort became the municipalities' political and administrative center, responsible for providing public services to surrounding settlements. Taking …
Close actions speak louder than distant words? The effect of local parties on voter turnout in Swedish local elections 1994–2018
Does the presence of local political parties increase turnout in municipal elections? A handful of previous studies have found that local parties indeed have this effect. Against that backdrop, we examine the impact of the rapid growth in the number of local parties on voter turnout in Swedish local elections. We test the so-called "best of both worlds" hypothesis, which predicts that the presence of local parties – alongside lists of local branc…
The Voter Next Door: Stigma Effects on Advance Voting for Radical Right Parties
Despite the influence of stigmatization on vote choices, little attention has been given to the impact of social stigma on voters’ selection of voting procedures. To bridge this gap, our study focuses on Sweden, where the open-display ballot system at polling stations potentially compromises vote secrecy. Using survey data from the Swedish National Election Studies in 2014 and 2018, we examine the relationship between citizens’ voting procedure c…
Economics (13 works) · Political science (13 works) · Politics (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Demographic economics (7 works) · Sociology (7 works)