Esta tesis es de carácter interdisciplinario, entre economía y ciencias políticas. Usando métodos bien explotados en economía explico como las instituciones electorales afectan las decisiones de los individuos en varios contextos políticos. El capítulo 2 es normativo y propone dos modificaciones en los sistemas electorales. Ambos resultan en una participación más alta y dan incentivos a los partidos políticos a que sean de mejor calidad. Primero, analizo un sistema electoral donde el número de los candidatos que obtienen representación en el parlamento es endógeno y depende del nivel de la participación. Segundo, analizo el efecto de un quorum de participación en elecciones parlamentarias. Según mis resultados, las dos modificaciones implican beneficios más bajos para los partidos, y bienestar más alto para los ciudadanos. Dichos resultados explican porqué los partidos usan otros tipos de medidas para incrementar la participación en las elecciones. Además, mis resultados explican la evolución del uso de un quorum en algunos países. El capítulo 3 es un trabajo junto con Sabine Flamand. Estudiamos el efecto de un quorum de participación en reuniones de pocos miembros. Usando un modelo de reuniones repetitivas, demostramos que la decisión se retrasa cuando el quorum es alto, y que los miembros no pierden utilidad por el hecho de retrasar la decisión. Finalmente, la presencia de un quorum puede tanto aumentar como reducir el número de miembros tomando la decisión final. El capítulo 4 ofrece un análisis empírico de las decisiones de votar en blanco y votar nulo. El análisis es innovador porque por primera vez se tratan las dos decisiones por separado. Demuestro que el voto blanco contiene un mensaje de insatisfacción contra los partidos políticos, mientras que el voto nulo contiene insatisfacción contra las instituciones y los niveles de democracia. / The present thesis lies at the intersection of economics and political science. Using methods, well developed in economics, I try to understand how electoral institutions shape individuals' behavior in different political contexts. Chapter 2 has a normative flavor. Focusing on the interplay between low quality parties and citizens' apathy, I try to break the vicious cycle that links the two, by proposing two electoral rules that increase turnout in PR elections, and at the same time give incentives to parties to be of better quality. First, I propose an electoral rule where the number of candidates elected depends on the level of participation. Second, I propose the introduction of a participation quorum that has to be met in order for the election to be valid. The common feature and innovation of these rules is that turnout affects the electoral outcome, and as a consequence these rules incentivize parties to care about the level of turnout. I show that both rules, while they increase turnout they imply lower profits for parties. My results explain why parties target to increase turnout through a certain type of measures that do not necessary improve the quality of the vote. Moreover, I also explain the evolution of the use of the participation quorum in certain countries. Chapter 3 is coauthored with Sabine Flamand, and tries to understand the effect of such a participation requirement on individuals' behavior and the decision outcome. To this end, we model a setup of repeated meetings, where a small group of individuals has to take a decision. We show that the decision is delayed when the quorum requirement is high and members are not harmed by postponing the decision. Surprisingly, the presence of the quorum may decrease the number of attendees taking the decision, while we show that in order to avoid policy distortions, the required number of participants must be even. Apart from abstaining, voters that are not willing to support any of the candidates in most parliamentary elections, are given the choice to participate in the election and cast a blank or a null vote. A blank vote is a disapproval vote of all competing candidates, while a null vote is a vote cast erroneously or deliberately in a way not conforming with the legal voting procedure. Political scientists were treating blank and null votes in an identical way. My attempt in chapter 4 is to study these two protest actions on a separate basis, in order to understand, why in some elections blank votes are many more than null votes and vice versa. After constructing a database considering the percentages of blank and null votes separately, I show that the amount of blank and null votes cast in an election are not affected by the same factors. Null votes convey dissatisfaction towards the electoral and democratic institutions, while blank votes convey dissatisfaction towards the parties. More important, my results go against one of the prevailing criticisms of compulsory voting. The latter has no significant effect on the amount of uninformative votes since it has no significant effect on the amount of null votes. On the contrary, it increases only the amount of blank votes, which by definition disclose information, and in particular voters' disapproval of all competing parties. Although abstention is one of the most studied issues both by political scientists and economists, the current thesis extends our knowledge, by giving insight into some of abstention's unexplored but widely observed aspects.

Le droit traite principalement l’abstention sous l’angle de la faute d’abstention, mais éprouve des difficultés à appréhender l’abstention du titulaire d’une prérogative qui nécessite une nouvelle approche. Refus temporaire, et non exprimé, de jouir immédiatement des effets de sa prérogative pour les retenir jusqu’au moment le plus opportun, l’abstention crée une situation équivoque. N’ayant ni la clarté d’un exercice actif, ni celle d’une renonciation, elle génère en effet imprévisibilité et insécurité juridique. Cette dernière est d’ailleurs exacerbée par les interprétations erronées dont l’abstention fait l’objet et par l’aggravation dans le temps des conséquences qui touchent celui qui la subit. Ainsi, à défaut de statut légalement défini de l’abstention, il est impératif de se saisir de la problématique d’imprévisibilité de l’abstention du titulaire d’une prérogative pour tenter de l’atténuer, tout en mettant en relief sa légitimité. L’encadrement du comportement de celui qui s’abstient dans le temps est la solution qui s’impose. Ainsi, à compter de la fin d’un délai raisonnable, laps de temps préservant sa liberté au sein du délai imparti, il doit respecter le standard de l’agent raisonnable. À défaut, sa responsabilité pourrait être engagée sans que cela n’exclue la responsabilisation de celui qui subit l’abstention. / French law is usually understanding the abstention as the abstention fault. However, the abstention of the holder of a prerogative can not be analyzed this way and requires a new juridical approach. Abstention creates an equivocal situation by being a refusal, silent and temporary, to immediately enjoy the effects of a prerogative in order to retain them until the most appropriate moment. By being unclear unlike an active exercise or a real renunciation, it generates indeed unpredictability and a lack of legal safety. This insecurity is, moreover, exacerbated by erroneous interpretations of abstention and by the aggravation of the consequences affecting the one who suffers from it with the passing time. As a result, due to the absence of a legal status of abstention, it is imperative to take up the unpredictability problem of the abstention of the holder of a prerogative in order to attempt to mitigate it, while highlighting its legitimacy. The appearing necessary solution finds its way in the regulation of the behavior of the one abstaining in time. Consequently, from the end of a reasonable period, preserving his liberty within the time limit, he has to respect the standard of a reasonable agent. Failing that, his liability could be incurred. This would not exclude the accountability of the person who suffers from abstention.

Le paludisme, la tuberculose et les infections respiratoires aiguës constituent un enjeu majeur de santé publique à Madagascar, les deux premières de ces maladies faisant l’objet de programmes nationaux de lutte largement inspirés et financés par des organisations internationales. Les méthodes diagnostiques, thérapeutiques et de prévention recommandées officiellement dans le système de santé conventionnel sont standardisées et reposent sur un corpus de connaissances scientifiques solidement établi. Parmi d’autres maladies, elles font explicitement partie des cibles des objectifs du développement durable (ODD). Pour les atteindre, les nations unies recommandent la mise en œuvre d’une Couverture Sanitaire Universelle (CSU). Madagascar a adopté les ODD et s’est engagé dans la voie de la mise en œuvre d’une CSU. Ces travaux sur le paludisme, la tuberculose et les infections respiratoires aiguës ont été menés dans le cadre de cette thèse de sociologie, en utilisant une approche qualitative (auprès de 83 individus) et quantitative (auprès d’environ 26.000 personnes interrogées, par enquêtes en populations), sur plusieurs terrains de Madagascar, impliquant des soignants, des soignés et des acteurs institutionnels. L’acceptation et la mise en œuvre des méthodes de prise en charge des maladies dépendent de facteurs logistiques et organisationnels, mais aussi des croyances et pratiques adoptées par les individus, les familles et les groupes sociaux ou professionnels. En pratique, les obstacles sont nombreux sur la voie d’un accès effectif des populations aux soins contre les maladies ciblées par les ODD et la CSU, y compris celles faisant déjà l’objet de programmes de lutte verticaux et soutenus internationalement. Les éléments représentatifs des zones étudiées dans cette thèse apportent un éclairage qui peut être utile pour la mise en œuvre d’une CSU à l’échelle du pays. Ils révèlent aussi les défis, pas seulement financiers, qui restent à surmonter. / Malaria, tuberculosis and acute respiratory infections constitute a major public health issue in Madagascar, the first two of which are the subject of national control programs largely inspired and financed by international organizations. The diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive methods recommended officially in the conventional health system are standardized and are based on a solid corpus of scientific knowledge. Among other diseases, they are explicitly targeted by the universal sustainable development goals (SDG). To reach them, the United nations recommend the implementation of an universal health coverage (UHC). Madagascar has adopted the SDG and is committed to the implementation of a UHC. The acceptance and implementation of these disease management methods depend on logistical and organizational factors, but also on the beliefs and practices of individuals, families and social or professional groups. In practice, there are many obstacles in the way of effective access to health care for diseases targeted by SDG and UHC, including those already covered by vertical and internationally supported control programs. These works on malaria, tuberculosis and acute respiratory infections were carried out within the framework of this sociological thesis, using a qualitative methods (among 83 individuals) and quantitative methods (with about 26,000 people interviewed), by population surveys, on several fields in Madagascar, involving caregivers, cared population and institutional actors. The acceptance and implementation of these disease management methods depend on logistical and organizational factors, but also on the beliefs and practices of individuals, families and social or professional groups. In practice, there are many obstacles in the way of effective access to health care for diseases targeted by SDGs and UHC, including those already covered by vertical and internationally supported control programs. The representative elements of the studied zones of Madagascar presented in this thesis provide an insight that could be useful for the implementation of a CSU across the country. They also reveal the challenges, not just financial, that remain to be overcome.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This dissertation explores the extent to which weather and climate systematically affect political behavior. The idea that weather (and other elements of the natural world) exercise a fundamental influence on politics has long been a theme in classical and modern political thought. As political science moved from pure description to a more social-scientific form of analysis, scholars became less interested in understanding the impact of climate. If mentioned at all, weather typically is referred to as one of the various elements making up the "error term" in our statistical analyses. Recent work in the natural and social sciences, however, has suggested there are systematic and important links between weather, climate, and behavior. This work (which I review) not only inspires a return to a traditional focus of political analysis, but more importantly provides a number of hypotheses to guide our analysis of politics. Inclement weather increases the costs of moving from place to place. Sunlight enhances while extreme temperature depresses mood. Finally, hot weather is associated with enhanced aggression. These correlates of climate have implications for a variety of subfields across political science, including comparative politics and international relations. This dissertation concentrates primarily, however, on American politics, particularly from a behavioral perspective. To see if weather has a significant effect on politics, then, I explore behavior in four settings that have been especially important in mainstream studies: Presidential approval; social capital; Election Day voting; and finally elite participation (in the form of abstention on roll call voting). In terms of the first, if (as Zaller argues) a response to a telephone survey indeed entails a summing up of `considerations' regarding an issue rather than expression of a `true' attitude, then it is likely sunlight should stimulate positive responses to questions because it encourages the release of serotonin, which makes people more positive in general. Controlled logistic regression of sunlight on Presidential approval reveals that, in spring, sunlight boosts approval. The next chapter explores how hot climates and rain may reduce levels of social capital. This is because heat boosts levels of aggression, which should diminish helping behavior, and because rain makes it more difficult to volunteer and associate with other people. Analysis of state-level social capital data and city-level volunteer data provides some evidence that these propositions are correct. The third empirical chapter focuses upon voting on Election Day. While it finds that rain does have a depressive effect upon voting rates among the poor due to raising the costs associated with voting, there is little evidence that vote choice is affected by the weather. The final empirical chapter examines how weather conditions may affect voting rates among members of the United States House of Representatives, which seems possible because, like regular citizens during Election Day, House members pay costs when visiting the Capital to vote, and unpleasant weather could comprise a real if minor cost. OLS regression at the vote-level and logistic regression at the legislator level reveals that in the winter and spring, sunlight boosts voting, while summer humidity depresses voting and heat in winter has a positive effect. While these conclusions are interesting in themselves and meaningfully contribute to contemporary academic discussions, they further suggest some things about how we thing about political science. In particular, analyses of political topics could often be enhanced by reflectively considering the contents of the error term, as this exercise can offer new and useful perspective on current scholarship. Further, this dissertation also suggests that political science (and research in general) could benefit from taking a more comprehensive view of the environmental context of human behavior.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Alors que la tolérance administrative a longtemps été caractérisée par sa précarité absolue vis-à-vis de ceux qui en bénéficient, l’administration pouvant décider de revenir brutalement à une application des règles de droit, l’évolution récente du droit positif remet en cause cette conception traditionnelle. La Cour européenne des droits de l’homme juge en effet que la tolérance administrative d’une construction irrégulière sur un terrain public permet de reconnaître à son bénéficiaire un droit au respect de ses biens. Cette césure entre droit français et droit européen invite à une étude du phénomène. Elle invite d’abord à en proposer une définition. A cet égard, la tolérance administrative désigne juridiquement le fait, pour une autorité administrative, de s’abstenir volontairement et illégalement d’utiliser les moyens dont elle dispose pour sanctionner une illégalité commise par un administré. Cette définition permet de faire le départ entre la tolérance et de nombreuses notions avec lesquelles elle est parfois confondue. Elle invite ensuite à en proposer un régime juridique orienté sur la protection des bénéficiaires de tolérance. Fondé sur le nécessaire respect de la confiance légitime créée par certaines tolérances, ce régime général permettrait notamment d’empêcher que l’administration revienne brutalement sur son comportement. / For quite some time, the administrative tolerance was characterized by a precarious situation for those who beneficiate from it. The Administration could indeed abruptly decide to operate a strict return to lawfullness. Nowadays, this traditional conception is being questionned by the recent evolution of positive law. Regarding an irregular construction on public land, The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the administrative tolerance's beneficiary, acknowledging his right to have his property respected. The caesura existing between French and European law is worthy of further study. First of all, rises the necessity of a definition. Thereupon, the legal notion of administrative tolerance refers to the fact, for an administrative authority, to willingly and illegaly abstain from using the means in its power to sanction the irregularity perpetrated by an administered. The notion of administrative tolerance is often mixed up with others, hence the need for a definition as a starting point. The next step would then be to suggest a legal regime, oriented towards the beneficiaries of the tolerance. Based on the idea that the legitimate trust emanating from some tolerances must be respected, such a regime would notably prevent the Administration from revising its position.

What causes Black people in America to opt-out of voting in the American political process? Do racial or cultural markers play a part in their turning away from the political process? Do economic factors play a role? This question often raises ferocious arguments in America. Yet, there has been no thorough investigation of the motivations behind Black voting abstention. This dissertation seeks to fill that void by exploring why a sample of middle-class Philadelphians choose not to exercise their right to vote. Voter apathy, racial/communal interests, or other factors have historically been utilized to explain why individuals choose to sit on the periphery of the American political system. However, none of these studies examine the cultural factors that cause individuals of African descent to exercise abstention from voting. The purpose of this project is multi-fold: (a) to explore with a sample of Black nonvoters their reasons for not voting; (b) interrogate our current orientation that voting as a needed signifier for our existence, (c) to properly center Black nonpolitical engagement as a possible viable avenue for African-descended people in our pursuit of creating a milieu of resistance and liberation, (d) to help normalize nonvoting practices as valid and acceptable methods of Black political engagement within Africana Studies, the Academy, and the Africana community; and (e) to push back against the dominant discourse that voting is the only viable option for progress for African-descended people in America. This work explores the idea that abstaining from voting, which has been a source of shame and contention within the Black community, may serve as a practical and useful tool in resistance and liberatory fashion for our people. This study seeks to conceptualize and link Black nonparticipatory politics as a form of Political Maroonage. The value of this project is that it should add the academic discourse of the Black nonvoter’s critique of the American political process and add clarity to the politicians who are seeking these individuals’ support for political office. / African American Studies

Kriminologisk forskning har sedan länge fokuserat på brottslighet och antisocialt beteende. Däremot har en mindre grupp individer genomgående uppgett att de aldrig ägnat sig åt antisocialt beteende och avstår således från brottslighet. Forskning inom detta område har varit jämförelsevis begränsad, men det har föreslagits att individens avhållande bygger på ett uteslutande från kamratgrupper som ett resultat av dennes oönskade egenskaper (t.ex. stark moraluppfattning). Andra menar istället att det är den starka moralen i sig som avhåller personer från att begå brott, vilket är en hypotes som testas i denna studie. Det görs genom att jämföra personer som uppger att de aldrig har begått brott, med personer som endast gjort det vid enstaka tillfällen. Detta i ljuset av variablerna moral, umgänge med brottsliga kamrater och tid som spenderas med vänner i ostrukturerade miljöer. Vidare undersöks eventuella könsskillnader. Med utgångspunkt i data från det longitudinella projektet Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Developmental Study (MINDS) har logistiska regressioner använts för att undersöka direkta och medierande effekter. Resultaten visar att hög moral predicerar ett avhållande från brott utan en medierande effekt av brottsliga kamrater. Umgänge med brottsliga kamrater predicerar istället brottslighet hos ungdomarna, medan spenderad tid i ostrukturerade miljöer varken predicerar avhållande eller brottslighet. Könsskillnader som fanns indikerar på starkare moral hos kvinnor och att effekten av densamma hos män är beroende av umgänge. Moral bör därför inte ses som en uteslutande egenskap utan snarare som en viktig brottshämmande faktor. / The scientific focus of criminological research has since long been on criminal and antisocial behaviours. However, a group of individuals reporting that they have never engaged in delinquent behaviour (delinquency abstainers) have consistently been identified and until only recently not rendered much scientific interest. It has by some been proposed that delinquency abstention is a result of individuals being excluded from peer groups due to undesired characteristics (e.g. high sense of moral beliefs), although this notion is contested. Morality has by others instead been perceived as having a direct effect on abstention, which is the hypothesis tested in this study. It does so by comparing delinquency abstainers to low-frequency non-abstainers with regards to moral belief, delinquent peer association, and time spent unsupervised with peers, and furthermore examines the effects across gender. Logistic regressions were run to examine direct and mediating effects using data from the longitudinal project Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Developmental Study (MINDS). Results indicate that strong moral beliefs have a direct effect on abstention and are not mediated by delinquent peer association. Associating with delinquent peers did in turn predict non-abstention but spending time unsupervised with peers did neither predict abstention nor delinquency. Some gender differences found points towards stronger morality amongst females and that the effect of morality for males depends on peer association. Morality should therefore not be perceived as an undesirable characteristic which excludes individuals from peer groups but rather an important factor in the inhibition of delinquency.

This thesis consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, I examine the effect of electoral outcomes on the tendency to overreport turnout among nonvoters, drawing on data from the Cooperative Election Study (CES) for presidential election years spanning from 2008 to 2020. Using standard regression analysis and propensity score matching, I examine whether nonvoters, especially those residing in swing states, are more likely to claim to have voted without corresponding records when the party they support loses the election. The results indeed indicate a higher likelihood of overreporting among nonvoters in swing states, especially when the party they support loses the election. In the second chapter, Maria Abascal, Delia Baldassarri and I explore how individuals generalize from a trustworthy versus untrustworthy interaction with strangers onto subsequent interactions. Specifically, we investigate if the generalization pattern varies depending on whether the partners in the interactions are coethnic or non-coethnic. We field a repeated trust game with White adults based in the US in which respondents are randomly assigned to experimental conditions that vary by (i) the race/ethnicity of the partners in the two rounds, (ii) the trustworthiness of the first-round interaction, and (iii) whether the partner in the second round is assigned by the experimenter or chosen by the participant. We find that the nature of the interaction does indeed affect subsequent behavior when it involves an outgroup member. Specifically, White respondents who have a negative experience with Latino partners in the first round are less likely to choose to play with another Latino player in the subsequent round. In contrast, the nature of interactions among White respondents paired with other White partners does not predict their behavior in the second round. Moreover, the nature of first-round interactions does not affect contribution amounts in subsequent rounds when partners are assigned by the experimenter. In the third chapter, I examine how concerns for the reputation of the group one belongs to influences prosocial behavior. Specifically, I explore whether members of minority groups exhibit greater sensitivity to the potential impact of their actions on group reputation when interacting with individuals from an outgroup, than would members of majority groups. I field a give-or-take dictator’s game with White and Asian adults based in the US and find that among a subgroup of respondents who are less experienced in online surveys and not suspicious of the existence of real partners (versus bots), minority (Asian) respondents are indeed more generous when assigned to the reputation condition than to the anonymity condition. However, a similar difference in behavior is not observed among majority (White) respondents. In other words, the results suggest that members of the minority are more conscientious of the reputational impact than are majority group members when interacting with a member of an outgroup.