About half of all optional referenda have been successful, although it has to be noted that less than 10 percent of parliamentary bills are challenged by a referendum.
This supports the initial concern that yea saying might be more of a problem in countries that do not have a history of open elections or citizens voting on referenda.
Referenda and federalist power-sharing are impediments to strong welfare statism, since the referendum has strong braking effects on public expenditures.
These issues arouse a strong populist constituency that can often overcome resistance from traditional elites or other entrenched interests by using instruments of direct democracy such as referenda.
This tendency for yea saying may be exacerbated in countries where people do not have experience with open elections or voting on tax referenda.
These countries are just now having elections for officials, and voting on referenda involving raising taxes to pay for public projects is rare.
By the rights of optional referenda and initiatives, almost any issue may be submitted to popular vote.
Table 3, which reports the frequency of launched referenda during the three main periods of welfare state development, supports this view.
