Politicians' Motivation, Political Culture, and Electoral Competition

44 Pages Posted: 23 Jun 2004

See all articles by Klaas J. Beniers

Klaas J. Beniers

Tinbergen Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Robert Dur

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Economics; Tinbergen Institute; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: June 2004

Abstract

We study electoral competition among politicians who are heterogeneous both in competence and in how much they care about (what they perceive as) the public interest relative to the private rents from being in office. We show that politicians' incentives to behave opportunistically increase with politicians' pay and with polarization of policy preferences. Moreover, politicians may have stronger incentives to behave opportunistically if other politicians are more likely to behave opportunistically. A political culture may therefore be self-reinforcing and multiple equilibria may arise. Lastly, we show that the mere probability that politicians care about the public interest enables opportunistic politicians to damage the reputation of their competitors. Consequently, efficient policies may be reversed.

Keywords: Politicians' motivation, politicians' pay, political culture, electoral competition, coalition governments, reputation bashing

JEL Classification: D72, D78

Suggested Citation

Beniers, Klaas J. and Dur, Robert, Politicians' Motivation, Political Culture, and Electoral Competition (June 2004). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=557722 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.557722

Klaas J. Beniers (Contact Author)

Tinbergen Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam ( email )

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Robert Dur

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Economics ( email )

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