Curriculum The Economics of Elections
The Economics of Elections
How money and economics shape elections and elections shape the economy - the cost of Indian elections, spending limits, campaign finance rules, the political business cycle, economic voting, the median voter, markets on results day, election-year spending, simultaneous elections, women voters and why people vote.
- What Indian Elections Cost How much money is spent on India's elections by the state, parties and candidates, why costs keep rising, and what it means for democracy. 📄 Read-aloud
- Spending Limits for Candidates How India caps what individual candidates can spend on campaigns, why the limits are widely seen as unrealistic, and the loopholes around them. 📄 Read-aloud
- Campaign Finance Around the World How different democracies regulate political donations and spending, from US super PACs to public funding in Europe, and what India can learn. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Political Business Cycle How governments may try to boost the economy before elections, what economist William Nordhaus proposed, and what evidence shows. 📄 Read-aloud
- Economic Voting: Do Voters Punish Bad Economies? How the state of the economy affects voting, what research shows about retrospective voting, and why other factors like identity also matter. 📄 Read-aloud
- Elections and Markets How stock markets and currencies react to elections and results, why uncertainty matters, and what the June 2024 Indian results day showed. 📄 Read-aloud
- The Economics of Elections: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on election costs, spending limits, campaign finance, the political business cycle and economic voting. 5 questions
- The Median Voter Theorem How economist Anthony Downs explained why parties often move toward the centre to win, and why real politics doesn't always follow this pattern. 📄 Read-aloud
- Election-Year Spending and the Model Code of Conduct How the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct restricts new government announcements during elections, and how governments time spending and schemes around it. 📄 Read-aloud
- Simultaneous Elections: The Debate The proposal to hold Lok Sabha and state elections together, the economic arguments about costs and governance, and the constitutional and democratic concerns. 📄 Read-aloud
- Women Voters and Welfare Politics How women's rising turnout has made them a key voting group in India, and how parties target them with welfare schemes. 📄 Read-aloud
- Why Do People Vote? The Paradox of Voting Why economists puzzled over why people vote when one vote rarely decides an election, and the explanations from civic duty to social pressure. 📄 Read-aloud
- Money, Votes and Democracy How the economics of elections shapes democratic outcomes, reforms that could make elections fairer, and a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud