The persuasive effects of direct mail
Subtitle: a regression discontinuity approach
By: Alan Gerber, Daniel Kessler, Marc Meredith.
Contributors: Kessler, Daniel P.; Meredith, Marc.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 14206; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 14206.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "During the contest for Kansas attorney general in 2006, an organization sent out 6 pieces of mail criticizing the incumbent's conduct in office.  We exploit a discontinuity in the rule used to select which households received the mailings to identify the causal effect of mail on vote choice and voter turnout.  We find these mailings had both a statistically and politically significant effect on the challenger's vote share.  Our estimates suggest that a ten percentage point increase in the amount of mail sent to a precinct increased the challenger's vote share by approximately three percentage points.  Furthermore, our results suggest that the mechanism for this increase was persuasion rather than mobilization"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 8/8/2008.

Includes bibliographical references.

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