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Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Battle for Credit

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  • Awad, Emiel
  • Karekurve-Ramachandra, Varun
  • Rothenberg, Lawrence

Abstract

Should politicians be allowed to reveal whether policy outcomes were caused by government agencies or should they always take responsibility? To answer this question, we develop a model in which a reputation-concerned agency exerts effort over time and a politician can publicly communicate about who bears responsibility for successes and failures. Although politicians want to claim credit and deflect blame, this also indirectly affects the reputation of bureaucratic agencies and their willingness to exert effort. We show that politician's messages about transparency can be good to incentivize bureaucrats as a prospective effect, but may have negative implications down the line. In equilibrium, the politician's considerations for future effort and her own reputation constrain her. Our results have various implications for institutions and democratic norms related to transparency about responsibility for political failures and successes. Although transparency improves selection of better politicians, it may have negative implications for government agencies' incentives to work hard.

Suggested Citation

  • Awad, Emiel & Karekurve-Ramachandra, Varun & Rothenberg, Lawrence, 2023. "Politicians, Bureaucrats, and the Battle for Credit," SocArXiv ajrey_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:ajrey_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/ajrey_v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Morris Fiorina, 1982. "Legislative choice of regulatory forms: Legal process or administrative process?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 33-66, January.
    2. Hinterleitner, Markus, 2018. "Policy failures, blame games and changes to policy practice," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 221-242, June.
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