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Who’s getting the office? Party dominance and elected executives’ career path

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  • Julio A. Ramos Pastrana

Abstract

I examine the role of party dominance on elected politicians’ career path. Politicians’ career is divided between political and technical or administrative posts. To examine this relationship, I use data from the Mexican states over the period 2000‐2014. The paper exploits the 2008 US financial crisis as a source of exogenous variation in incumbents’ popularity level. Results support theoretical predictions that elected politicians’ profile in states with a dominant party changed more than in competitive states after the financial crisis. I find that after the 2008 US financial crisis, political experience of new elected governors in states with a dominant party decreased by 36 percentage points, on average, compared to states with no dominant party. Results are robust to different measures of political and technical or administrative career path.

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  • Julio A. Ramos Pastrana, 2021. "Who’s getting the office? Party dominance and elected executives’ career path," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 270-297, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:kyklos:v:74:y:2021:i:2:p:270-297
    DOI: 10.1111/kykl.12259
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    1. Portmann, Marco & Stadelmann, David & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2022. "Incentives dominate selection – Chamber-changing legislators are driven by electoral rules and voter preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 353-366.
    2. Marco Frank & David Stadelmann & Benno Torgler, 2023. "Higher turnout increases incumbency advantages: Evidence from mayoral elections," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 529-555, July.

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