Hotelling's model has been used to describe differentiation in the political "market." Suppose that 100 voters are evenly distributed between the extreme left and the extreme right on the political spectrum, and that all voters vote, and they always vote for the candidate closest to them on this spectrum. The numbers on this spectrum represent the number of voters lying to the left of the number. So, at the midpoint, fifty voters lie to the left and fifty to the right. At the extreme right end, all 100 voters lie to the left. If Candidate X is running against Candidate Z, by moving to the right Candidate X would:
A)lose some votes from voters on the far left but gain approximately the same number of votes from Z.
B)not lose any votes from voters on the left and gain some votes from Z.
C)force Z to move farther to the right in order to keep the same number of votes.
D)win the election if the move placed X anywhere to the right of 25 on the spectrum.

Question

Hotelling's model has been used to describe differentiation in the political "market." Suppose that 100 voters are evenly distributed between the extreme left and the extreme right on the political spectrum, and that all voters vote, and they always vote for the candidate closest to them on this spectrum. The numbers on this spectrum represent the number of voters lying to the left of the number. So, at the midpoint, fifty voters lie to the left and fifty to the right. At the extreme right end, all 100 voters lie to the left.  If Candidate X is running against Candidate Z, by moving to the right Candidate X would:
A)lose some votes from voters on the far left but gain approximately the same number of votes from Z. 
B)not lose any votes from voters on the left and gain some votes from Z. 
C)force Z to move farther to the right in order to keep the same number of votes. 
D)win the election if the move placed X anywhere to the right of 25 on the spectrum.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In Hotelling's model, candidates try to differentiate themselves by moving to the center to attract more voters, but in this case, both candidates are already at the extremes. If Candidate X moves to the right, they will still be closer to the voters on the left, but will also be closer to some of the voters on the right who were previously voting for Z. However, Candidate X will not lose any votes from voters on the left because they are already the closest option. Therefore, option B is the best choice. Option A is incorrect because Candidate X would gain more votes from Z than they would lose from the far left. Option C is incorrect because Z does not necessarily have to move farther to the right, and even if they did, it would not necessarily maintain the same number of votes for Z. Option D is incorrect because there is no guarantee that Candidate X will win the election by moving to the right, as it depends on how far Z moves to the right and how many voters are affected.

Hotelling's Model Has Been Used to Describe Differentiation in the Political