What is the subjective value of voting rights? This article presents an empirical demonstration of people’s loss aversion for the value of voting rights. By way of vignette experiments using scenarios of the 2020 U.S. presidential election (Studies 1 and 2, with U.S. citizens) and a fictitious direct premier election in Japan (Study 3, with Japanese citizens), the present research measured the willingness-to-accept compensation (WTA) and the willingness-to-pay price (WTP) for a ballot(s) in political elections. A great disparity between WTA and WTP was found regardless of the electoral setting, the proportion and width of ballot alteration, and the initial status. Specifically, the observed WTA/WTP ratios for a ballot(s) were within the range of 5.00–27.36, which is much larger than the ratios for ordinary market goods (about 1.5–2.5) and which is comparable to the ratios for other non-market goods. In addition, WTA for a mere 10% dilution of voting rights is still higher than WTP for full voting rights; the powerful effect of loss aversion might help explain universal barriers against suffrage extension.

投票权的主观价值是什么？本文对人们对投票权价值的损失厌恶进行了实证论证。通过使用 2020 年美国总统选举（研究 1 和 2，与美国公民）和日本虚构的直接总理选举（研究 3，与日本公民）情景的小插曲实验，本研究测量了接受意愿政治选举中的选票的补偿（WTA）和愿意支付的价格（WTP）。无论选举环境、选票变动的比例和幅度、以及初始状态，都发现WTA和WTP之间存在巨大差异。具体而言，观察到的选票的 WTA/WTP 比率在 5.00-27.36 的范围内，远大于普通市场商品的比率（约 1.5-2. 5) 与其他非市场商品的比率相当。此外，投票权仅稀释 10% 的 WTA 仍高于完全投票权的 WTP；损失厌恶的强大影响可能有助于解释反对选举权扩展的普遍障碍。