Political selection and economic policy

Does political selection matter for policy in representative governments? I use administrative data on local politicians in Finland and exploit exogenous variation generated by close elections to show that electing more high-income, incumbent and competent politicians (who earn more than observably...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Economic journal (London) 2022-11, Vol.132 (648), p.3020-3046
1. Verfasser: Meriläinen, Jaakko
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Does political selection matter for policy in representative governments? I use administrative data on local politicians in Finland and exploit exogenous variation generated by close elections to show that electing more high-income, incumbent and competent politicians (who earn more than observably similar politicians) improves fiscal sustainability outcomes, but does not decrease the size of the public sector. I also provide suggestive evidence that electing more university-educated local councillors leads to more public spending without adverse effects on fiscal sustainability. I reconcile these findings with survey data on candidate ideology and demonstrate that different qualities are differentially associated with economic ideology.
ISSN:0013-0133
1468-0297
DOI:10.1093/ej/ueac035