Relationships Between Politicians and Voters Through Elections: a Review Essay

This paper surveys the literature on the most fundamental institution in a democracy: the appointment of the policymakers through democratic elections. Elections perform at least three different functions: (i) to discipline the elected officials by the threat of not being reappointed; (ii) to select competent individuals for public office; and (iii) to aggregate and represent the voters' conflicting preferences. We also review the literature on political business cycles. The essay is not meant to be just a review of what has been done in the past, although that is part of the motivation and development. Rather, it is meant to describe a series of productive and useful lines of research, lines that are likely to expand our understanding of the underlying political and economic behavior.