Abstract
Citizens are occasionally asked to make specific policy decisions that elected officials are either unable or unwilling to make directly. Among the most common policies where specific voter approval is sought is the leveling of new taxes at the local level. I find that the quality of life of local communities is used by voters in deciding whether to support local tax increases.
Highlights
Citizens are occasionally asked to make specific policy decisions that elected officials are either unable or unwilling to make directly
Defining quality of life is problematic, and numerous definitions have been advanced, I return to the Calvert-Henderson Definition, which argues that quality of life can only be defined by considering what makes up the world we currently live in, and how that world could be better or worse from the current situation (Henderson, Lickerman, & Flynn, 2000)
This approach has two benefits, first it is quantifiable by selecting specific parts of world that can be operationalized and considered, and second it seems to mirror how individuals intuitively consider the world. When using this approach there are two ways of measuring quality of life, the first focuses on the perception of quality held by individual citizens, and second uses objective and clearly measurable indicators. This project is primarily interested in testing the effect of the second way of measuring quality of life on ballot questions about taxation
Summary
Citizens are occasionally asked to make specific policy decisions that elected officials are either unable or unwilling to make directly. The goal of including a Quality of Life indicator is primarily to add information that individual citizens might use when deciding how to vote on a specific ballot measure, and as such it is done holistically, not with the variables in isolation.
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