Preferences and Democracy

This book is a selection of papers presented at the Fourth Villa Colombella Seminar on the topic of the relationship between the preferences of citizens for public policies and how (or whether) these get expressed as political demands by interest groups, political parties and governments. "Preferences and Democracy" features contributions from prominent North American and European scholars with up-to-date commentary and surveys of standard topics, including probabilistic voting, the conver-gence of political parties, and redistribution. New topics are addressed, including how political institutions provide bridges between demand and supply; how the political process in a democracy sometimes "represses" political demand. "Preferences and Democracy" addresses the important issue of how the democratic political process succeeds or fails in facilitating the expression of the political demands of the people. The book is a vital reference for students and specialists in economics and political science.