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The Politician and the Judge: Accountability in Government

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Maskin

    (School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study)

  • Jean Tirole

    (Institut d'Economie Industrielle)

Abstract

We build a simple model to capture the major virtues and drawbacks of making public officials accountable (i.e., subjecting them to reelection): On the one hand, accountablity allows the public to screen and discipline their officials; on the other, it may induce those officials to pander to public opinion and put too little weight on minority welfare. We study when decision-making powers should be allocated to the public directly (direct democracy), to accountable officials (called “politicians”), or to nonaccountable officials (called “judges”).

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Maskin & Jean Tirole, 2004. "The Politician and the Judge: Accountability in Government," Economics Working Papers 0020, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:ads:wpaper:0020
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Accountability; Pandering; Separation of Powers; Constitutional Design; Redistributive Politics; Minority Rights;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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