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Benchmarking Politicians

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  • Antonio Estache
  • Renaud Foucart

Abstract

We study a political system in which voters can optimally pick between political platforms,but cannot screen the quality of individual politicians associated with these platforms.A bad individual achievement can correspond to either incompetence (adverse selection) orcorruption (moral hazard). Information could improve, if independent experts assess achievementsas compared to commitments, allowing independent judges to investigate possible corruption.We find that while good experts are always beneficial as they increase transparency,the impact of the quality of judges is ambiguous. Above a threshold, with risk-averse socialplanners, good judges increase the incentive-compatible punishment of politicians, at the costof possible judiciary mistakes.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio Estache & Renaud Foucart, 2013. "Benchmarking Politicians," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2013-20, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/143015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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