Replication Data for: Public Sector Employment and Voter Turnout

Does working in the public rather than the private sector have a causal effect on electoral participation? Extant evidence using cross-sectional survey data remains unpersuasive due to data limitations and concerns posed by preference-based job selection. We address these challenges using population-wide individual-level register data on voter turnout covering four Norwegian local and national elections between 2013 and 2019. We identify causal effects by tracking the same individuals over time during a) shifts between private and public sector employment, b) relocations between municipalities, and c) shifts into retirement. We find that local public sector employees display one to three percentage points higher voter turnout compared to private-sector employees. These effects arise particularly when working in their residential municipality, but largely dissipate upon retirement.

相较于私营部门，在公共部门工作是否会对选民参选率产生因果影响？由于数据局限性以及基于个人偏好的职业选择所引发的内生性顾虑，既有基于截面调查数据的研究证据仍缺乏说服力。本研究借助覆盖2013至2019年间挪威四次地方与全国选举的选民参选率全人口个体级登记数据，解决了上述研究局限。本研究通过对同一批个体进行纵向追踪，基于三类场景识别因果效应：a）私营与公共部门的就业转换；b）跨市镇迁移；c）步入退休状态。研究结果显示，与私营部门雇员相比，地方公共部门雇员的选民参选率高出1至3个百分点。该效应在雇员于其居住所在的市镇工作时尤为显著，但在退休后基本消失。