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Expert-Captured Democracies

Author

Listed:
  • Archishman Chakraborty
  • Parikshit Ghosh
  • Jaideep Roy

Abstract

Does public cheap talk by a biased expert benefit voters? The answer depends on the nature of democratic institutions and the extent of communication possibilities. Expert endorsements induce office-seeking parties to serve the expert's interests, hurting voters. Expert advocacy makes policies respond to information, helping voters. Together, policy advocacy and partisan endorsements are often better than either alone. Their interaction creates a delegation benefit that makes indirect democracy superior to direct democracy and office-seeking parties better than those motivated by public interest. But voter welfare is highest when an expert captured technocratic party competes against an uninformed populist one.

Suggested Citation

  • Archishman Chakraborty & Parikshit Ghosh & Jaideep Roy, 2020. "Expert-Captured Democracies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(6), pages 1713-1751, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:110:y:2020:i:6:p:1713-51
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181396
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    Cited by:

    1. Federico Vaccari, 2023. "Influential news and policy-making," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 76(4), pages 1363-1418, November.
    2. Adriano Festa & Simone Göttlich & Michele Ricciardi, 2025. "Forward-Forward Mean Field Games in Mathematical Modeling with Application to Opinion Formation and Voting Models," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 664-692, May.
    3. Francesco Bogliacino & Rafael Charris & Camilo Gómez & Felipe Montealegre & Cristiano Codagnone, 2021. "Expert endorsement and the legitimacy of public policy. Evidence from Covid19 mitigation strategies," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3-4), pages 394-415, April.
    4. Jiménez-Martínez, Antonio & Melguizo-López, Isabel, 2024. "Evidence disclosure with heterogeneous priors," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 69-74.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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