Philip Jones and John Hudson pp. 3-16 Abstract Electoral turnout cannot be easily explained by reference to instrumental rationality. Instead, turnout depends on consumption gains arising from the act of voting. This paper distinguishes between utility derived from fulfilling a civic duty and utility derived from expressing a political preference. Both considerations affect turnout but a test of the determinants of the decision of whether to vote and the decision of how to vote identifies the importance of perceptions of civic duty.
Evidence suggests that intrinsic motivation is important.
If so, policy to maintain standards in public life should be framed to 'crowd in' intrinsic motivation. The results show that both types of firms are more likely to make references to countries with large patent stocks and to countries that are located close to Sweden. Trade and FDI also seem to facilitate the transfer of foreign technology to Sweden. However, trade contacts seem to be more important for technology sourcing in SMEs than in MNEs. Outward FDI is a channel for the diffusion of foreign technology to both home-country MNEs and SMEs.