POLITICAL COMPETITION AND POLITICIAN QUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN MUNICIPALITIES

Maria De Paola () and Vincenzo Scoppa ()

No 201005, Working Papers from Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF

Abstract: In this paper, using data from Italian local level governments for the years 1985- 2008, we investigate whether political competition affects the quality of elected politicians, as measured by using some ex-ante characteristics such as educational level and type of job held. We handle endogeneity problems through an instrumental variable approach using a variable which takes into account whether the previous legislature survived until the end of its legislative term as an instrument for political competition. Early termination increases political competition, without directly affecting the quality of candidates. Two Stage Least Square estimates support the assumption that political competition positively affects politician quality. Results are robust to different measures of political competition and to different specifications of the model.

Keywords: Political Competition; Politicians; Political Selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D78 J45 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2010-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-geo and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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http://www.ecostat.unical.it/RePEc/WorkingPapers/WP05_2010.pdf First version, 2010-02 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Political competition and politician quality: evidence from Italian municipalities (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:clb:wpaper:201005

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