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Moral Hazard in Electoral Teams

Author

Listed:
  • Gary W. Cox
  • Jon H. Fiva
  • Daniel M. Smith
  • Rune J. Sørensen

Abstract

How do parties motivate candidates to exert effort in closed-list elections? If each candidate’s primary goal is winning a seat, then those in safe and hopeless list positions have weak incentives to campaign. We present a model in which (i) candidates care about both legislative seats and the higher offices available when their party enters government; and (ii) parties commit to allocating higher offices monotonically with list rank. This model predicts that the volume and geo-diversity of candidates’ campaign efforts will increase as their list rank improves. Using new data cover-ing Norwegian parliamentary candidates’ use of mass and social media during the 2017 election, we find clear support for this prediction. As their list rank increases, candidates shift from intra-district to extra-district media exposure—which cannot help them win their own seats; but can improve their party’s chance of entering government, and thus their own potential share of the spoils.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary W. Cox & Jon H. Fiva & Daniel M. Smith & Rune J. Sørensen, 2020. "Moral Hazard in Electoral Teams," CESifo Working Paper Series 8357, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8357
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp8357.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Benoit S Y Crutzen & Hideo Konishi & Nicolas Sahuguet, 2021. "The Best at the Top? Candidate Ranking Strategies Under Closed List Proportional Representation," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1032, Boston College Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    party lists; cabinet promotion; Gamson’s law; proportional representation; voter mobilization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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