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Office-Holding Premia and Representative Democracy

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Auerbach

    (Department of Economics, University of Exeter)

Abstract
I consider a policy issue stylized as redistribution in a representative democracy in which holding o ce o ers an income premium. Predominance of high earners in the legislature likely implies that not a single lawmaker shares the policy preferences of lower- income citizens, because it arises in only two ways. First, chance favors high-income candidates while in the majority of districts, the strict majority of political candidates are lower-income citizens, which seems counterfactual. Second, high o ce-holding premia induce legislators from all backgrounds to oppose redistribution once in o ce. Either legislators are recruited from an elite, or some forget where they came from.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Auerbach, 2018. "Office-Holding Premia and Representative Democracy," Discussion Papers 1802, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:exe:wpaper:1802
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    File URL: https://exetereconomics.github.io/RePEc/dpapers/DP1802.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Representative Democracy; Legislature; Legislators; Representatives; Representation; Policy Preferences; Citizen-Candidates; Office-Holding Premia; Redistribution.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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