The limits of behavioral nudges to increase youth turnout: Experimental evidence from two French elections

Rustam Romaniuc; Andrea Guido; Pierre Baudry; Cécile Bazart; Loïc Berger; Noémi Berlin; Aurélie Bonein; Imen Bouhlel; Kene Boun My; Michela Chessa; Paolo Crosetto; Etienne Dagorn; Quentin David; Etienne Farvaque; Agnès Festré; Abel François; Lisette Ibanez; Herrade Igersheim; Nicolas Jacquemet; Isabelle Lebon; Mathieu Lefebvre; Olivier L’haridon; Danlin Li; Youenn Loheac; Stéphane Luchini; Laurent Muller; Matthieu Pourieux; Elven Priour; Sébastien Roussel; Petros Sekeris; Maïté Stephan; Eli Spiegelman; Angela Sutan; Uyanga Turmunkh; Laurence Vardaxoglou; Marc Willinger; Dimitri Dubois

doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107098

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The limits of behavioral nudges to increase youth turnout: Experimental evidence from two French elections

Journal article

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The limits of behavioral nudges to increase youth turnout: Experimental evidence from two French elections

Rustam Romaniuc, Andrea Guido, Pierre Baudry, Cécile Bazart, Loïc Berger, Noémi Berlin, Aurélie Bonein, Imen Bouhlel, Kene Boun My, Michela Chessa, …

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol.236

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107098

Abstract

Youth turnout

Behavioral nudges

Field experiment

Behavioral public policy

There is a significant gap in turnout between young people and older voters. The failure to instill a voting habit at an early age may have long term consequences in terms of future political participation as well as on other civic behaviors. Using a pre-registered online experiment with 3790 subjects, we implemented behavioral interventions aiming to stimulate youth turnout in the 2022 French presidential election. We rely on an innovative incentive scheme to measure their consequences on (self-reported) actual voting behavior. We also provide evidence on the effect of one behavioral intervention on youth turnout in a less salient election, the French legislative election that took place two months after the Presidential one. The results from the two experiments show the absence of any differences in turnout between the baseline and the treatment conditions. We investigate several mechanisms that can explain our results.

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Title: The limits of behavioral nudges to increase youth turnout: Experimental evidence from two French elections
Creators - without role: Rustam Romaniuc - Montpellier Business School
Andrea Guido - Paris School of Economics
Pierre Baudry - Okoni, Paris
Cécile Bazart - Université de Montpellier, Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CEE-M
Loïc Berger - Lille Économie Management
Noémi Berlin - EconomiX
Aurélie Bonein - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Imen Bouhlel - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion
Kene Boun My - Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée
Michela Chessa - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion
Paolo Crosetto - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble
Etienne Dagorn - Instutut d'Études du Développement de la Sorbonne
Quentin David - Lille Économie Management
Etienne Farvaque - Lille Économie Management
Agnès Festré - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion
Abel François - EM Strasbourg Business School
Lisette Ibanez - Université de Montpellier, Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CEE-M
Herrade Igersheim - Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée
Nicolas Jacquemet - Paris School of Economics
Isabelle Lebon - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Mathieu Lefebvre - Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée
Olivier L’haridon - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Danlin Li - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Youenn Loheac - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Stéphane Luchini - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques
Laurent Muller - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble
Matthieu Pourieux - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Elven Priour - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Sébastien Roussel - Université de Montpellier, Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CEE-M
Petros Sekeris - Toulouse Business School
Maïté Stephan - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management
Eli Spiegelman - Centre de Recherche sur l'ENtreprise [Dijon]
Angela Sutan - École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales
Uyanga Turmunkh - Lille Économie Management
Laurence Vardaxoglou - Paris School of Economics
Marc Willinger - Université de Montpellier, Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CEE-M
Dimitri Dubois - Université de Montpellier, Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CEE-M
Publication Details: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol.236
Identifiers: 9966682809311
Academic Unit: Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CEE-M
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article
Local Fields: halshs-05110297