Electoral control and the human capital of politicians

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Buisseret, Peter; Prato, Carlo
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; Georgetown University; Georgetown University
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2016.04.011
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 34-55
• 关键词: Electoral control; competence; Political representation; Multidistrict elections

摘要

We develop a model of electoral control in which politicians in a legislative body allocate their time between providing constituency services to their voters, and pursuing the objectives of legislative cliques and factions. While a politician's human capital symmetrically increases his inherent ability to engage in both endeavors, our analysis uncovers an equilibrium bias towards the latter. As a result of the strategic interdependencies among legislators, a trade-off arises between politicians' human capital and voters' ability to exert electoral control. We characterize conditions under which an increase in the human capital of politicians makes voters worse off by encouraging all politicians to divert their attention away from their constituents. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.