PATHWAY ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VOTER TURNOUT AND HOURS WORKED USING VOTER TURNOUT AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING COVERAGE AS INTERMEDIARIES

Author

Andrew Notier, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

8-1-2009

Degree Name

Master of Science in Education

Department

Recreation

First Advisor

Glover, Regina

Abstract

This study explores the hypothesis that high voter turnout leads to increased leisure. The path is hypothesized to begin with high voter turnout, which creates a political environment that enables strong labor protection. The path then extends from collective bargaining to income equality, which is the final necessary step to increasing leisure time. This study examines data on voter turnout, collective bargaining coverage, income equality as measured by the GINI Index and hours worked in order to determine if a significant relationship exists between voter turnout and the number of hours worked. Twenty nations were used in this study: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. It was concluded that although significant relationships were found to exist between each of the variables studied, there is no significant statistical relationship between voter turnout and the number of hours worked per capita within each country.