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Do Elections Always Motivate Incumbents?

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  • Le Borgne, Eric
  • Lockwood, Ben

Abstract

This paper studies a principal-agent model of the relationship between o¢ceholders and the electorate, where the o¢ce-holder is initially uninformed about her ability (following Holmström, 1999). If o¢ce-holder e¤ort and ability interact in the “production function” that determines performance in o¢ce, then an o¢ce-holder has an incentive to experiment, i.e. raise e¤ort so that performance becomes a more accurate signal of her ability. Elections reduce the experimentation e¤ect, and the reduction in this e¤ect may more than o¤set the positive “career concerns” e¤ect of elections on e¤ort. Moreover, when this occurs, appointment of o¢cials (random selection from the citizenry and tenure) may Pareto-dominate elections.

Suggested Citation

  • Le Borgne, Eric & Lockwood, Ben, 2000. "Do Elections Always Motivate Incumbents?," Economic Research Papers 269351, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uwarer:269351
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.269351
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    Cited by:

    1. Rui Nuno Baleiras & José da Silva Costa, 2003. "To Be or Not To Be in Office Again: Political Business Cycles with Local Governments," Public Economics 0302009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Mr. Ben Lockwood & Mr. Eric Le Borgne, 2003. "Do Elections Always Motivate Incumbents? Experimentation vs. Career Concerns," IMF Working Papers 2003/057, International Monetary Fund.
    3. Baleiras, Rui Nuno & da Silva Costa, Jose, 2004. "To be or not to be in office again: an empirical test of a local political business cycle rationale," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 655-671, September.
    4. Eric Borgne & Ben Lockwood, 2006. "Do Elections Always Motivate Incumbents? Learning vs. Re-Election Concerns," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 41-60, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Political Economy; Public Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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