A system is proposed and implemented that creates a language model for each member of the Dutch parliament, based on the official transcripts of the meetings of the Dutch Parliament. Using expert finding techniques, the system allows users to retrieve a ranked list of politicians, based on queries like news messages. The high quality of the system is due to extensive data cleaning and transform...

We examine a model in which two politicians compete for office and for wages. Their remunerations are either set by the public or are offered competitively by the candidates during campaigns. Our main finding shows that competitive wage offers by candidates lead to lower social welfare than remunerations predetermined by the public, since less competent candidates are elected or wage costs are ...

In this paper, we examine the empirical determinants of politicians’ pay. Contrary to widespread assumptions, we document substantial variation in the wages of politicians, both across states and over time. Using data for the US during 1950-90, we provide what we believe to be the first empirical analysis of gubernatorial pay. We find that gubernatorial wages respond to changes in state income ...

When seeking new leaders, business and government organizations alike often need individuals that are less risk averse, or even risk-seeking, in order to improve performance. However, individuals amenable to increased risktaking may be more likely to engage in misconduct. To study this issue, we explore US political scandals and the implicated politicians’portfolio choices. We find that a polit...

To the Editors: Recently, Baftiu et al. published a very nice and important paper entitled: “Availability of antiepileptic drugs across Europe.” In their study, they observed that the main reasons for poor access to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in European countries were lack of regulatory approval, high prices, and reimbursement restrictions. There were large gaps in AED availability across Euro...

Direct influence over communication media is a potent resource during electoral campaigns, and politicians have an incentive to gain control of the airwaves to advance their careers. In this article, we use data on community radio license applications in Brazil to identify both the causal effect of incumbency on politicians’ ability to control the media and the causal effect of media control on...

We analyze a model of delegation and policymaking in polities where bureaucratic capacity is low. Our analysis suggests that low bureaucratic capacity diminishes incentives for bureaucrats to comply with legislation, making it more difficult for politicians to induce bureaucrats to take actions that politicians desire. Consequently, when bureaucratic capacity is low, standard principles in the ...

Economists who believe that government is essentially benevolent tend to regard inter-governmental competition as a source of negative externalities that lower welfare. In contrast the public choice perspective, particularly that motivated by the Leviathan model, sees such competition as potentially beneficial. This paper considers a world consisting of politicians of both kinds – self-interest...

Political parties and politicians increasingly use the possibilities of the Internet to communicate interactively with citizens and vice versa. The Internet also offers opportunities for individual politicians to profile themselves. These developments are often said to bring politics closer to citizens, increasing their political engagement in politics. Empirical evidence for such claims is, ho...

In most parliamentary democracies, proportional representation electoral rules mean that no single party controls a majority of seats in the legislature. This in turn means that the formation of majority legislative coalitions in such settings is of critical political importance. Conventional approaches to modeling the formation of such legislative coalitions typically make the "common knowledg...