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Political Motivations

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Author Info
STEVEN CALLANDER

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Abstract

Are politicians motivated by policy outcomes or by the perks of office? To shed light on this important question, I develop a simple model of two candidate electoral competitions in which candidates may be either "office" or "policy motivated". In a second departure from standard formulations, the model incorporates both campaign and post-election behaviour of candidates. In this environment, I find that office-motivated candidates are favoured in electoral competition but that their advantage is limited by the electoral mechanism itself and policy-motivated candidates win a significant fraction of elections. More importantly, I show that the competitive interaction among candidates of different motivations affects the incentives of "all" candidates-both office and policy motivated-and that this competition affects policy outcomes. I also extend the model to explore the decision of citizens to enter politics and show that in all equilibria policy-motivated citizens compose a majority of the candidate pool. Copyright © 2008 The Review of Economic Studies Limited.

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File URL: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-937X.2008.00488.x
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Blackwell Publishing in its journal Review of Economic Studies.

Volume (Year): 75 (2008)
Issue (Month): 3 (07)
Pages: 671-697
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Handle: RePEc:bla:restud:v:75:y:2008:i:3:p:671-697

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  1. Matias Iaryczower & Andrea Mattozzi, 2008. "Ideology and Competence in Alternative Electoral Systems," Levine's Working Paper Archive 122247000000002387, David K. Levine. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Klaas J. Beniers & Robert Dur, 2004. "Politicians' Motivation, Political Culture, and Electoral Competition," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-065/1, Tinbergen Institute, revised 16 Aug 2005. [Downloadable!]
  3. Ferraz, Claudio & Finan, Frederico, 2008. "Motivating Politicians: The Impacts of Monetary Incentives on Quality and Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 3411, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  4. Klaas J. Beniers & Robert A. J. Dur, 2004. "Politicians’ Motivation, Political Culture, and Electoral Competition," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Stefan Krasa & Mattias Polborn, 2009. "Political Competition between Differentiated Candidates," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  6. Navin Kartik & R. Preston McAfee, 2007. "Signaling Character in Electoral Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 852-870, June. [Downloadable!]
  7. Jaideep Roy & M Dziubinski, 2008. "Electoral Competition amongst Citizen-candidates and Downsian Politicians," Working Papers 005502, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Luca Corazzini & Sebastian Kube & Michel André Maréchal & Antonio Nicoló, 2009. "Elections and Deceptions: Theory and Experimental Evidence," IEW - Working Papers iewwp421, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
  9. DeBacker, Jason, 2008. "Flip-Flopping: Ideological Adjustment Costs in the United States Senate," MPRA Paper 8735, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-22.

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