FEDDERSEN, Timothy J.  <br/><br/>
Abstention in elections with asymmetric information and diverse preferences 

 - New York, NY :  Cambridge University Press,  June 1999 
<br/><br/> The following stylized facts occupy a central place in the empirical literature on voting and elections in the United States. (1) Better educated and wealthy individuals participate in elections more frequently than others (Wolfinger and Rosenstone 1980). (2) Over the last forty years, participation in elections has declined significantly while education levels have increased (Brody 1978). In addition, recent research suggests that there is a correlation between participation and policy outcomes.(1) These facts, together with the likely correlation between participation and outcomes, have led some to conclude that election outcomes are increasingly biased toward the wealthy and better educated (Lijphart 1997).