Political Selection and Economic Policy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Merilainen, Jaakko
• 署名单位: Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico; Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueac035
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 3020-3046
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; gender quotas; candidate; matter; MODEL; party; attitudes; education; valence; QUALITY

摘要

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.