Behind the Cube Rule
Implications of, and Evidence against a Fractal Electoral Geography
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4139050 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Maloney (0000-0003-3249-8926, University of Exeter), Bernard Pearson (University of Exeter), Andrew Pickering (0000-0003-1545-2192, University of Bristol) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1405-1414 |
| Publication date | 2003-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1068/a35184 |
| OpenAlex | W1999771820 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
In 1909 Parker Smith showed that the ratio of seats won by the two major parties in Britain was close to the cube of the ratio of their votes. Taagepera and Shugart argue, wrongly, that a fractal electoral map implies this. In fact, their premises imply that the seats' ratio will be the votes' ratio to the power of √3, not 3. However, in the six countries we examine, the figure is between 2 and 3. This implies that the electoral map is nonfractal, political allegiances becoming less 'clustered' as you move from a macro to a micro scale. Taking the United Kingdom, we ask if this is a result of the geographical pattern of income distribution, and find that this is even further away from fractality than is voting. This fits the well-known 'neighbourhood effect' whereby poor (rich) people in rich (poor) constituencies vote as if richer (poorer) than they really are
Economic geography · Economics · Fractal · Geometry · Mathematical economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power index · Voting · Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis · Law · Mathematics
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2003 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |