Signature requirements and citizen initatives: Quasi-experimental evidence from Germany

Arbeitspapier

Signature requirements are often used as hurdles to prevent overuse of public referenda. We evaluate the causal effect of lowering signature requirements on the number of observed citizen initiatives. Based on municipality-level data for Germany, we make use of legislative changes at specific population thresholds to build an identification strategy using a regression discontinuity design. We find that reducing the signature requirement by 1 percentage point increases the probability of observing an initiative by 8-10 percentage points. The results are robust to a variety of tests. Importantly, we go into great detail to rule out other potential confounders.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: DIW Discussion Papers ; No. 1311

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government ; State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations: Other
• Subject: signature requirements ; citizen initiatives ; local referenda ; municipality data ; regression discontinuity design

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Arnold, Felix ; Freier, Ronny
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/78046
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET