2025/01/01 by Ananish Chaudhuri, Vegard Iversen, Francesca R. Jensenius +1 · 1 voice
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Gender Politics and Representation #Political Influence and Corporate Strategies #Social Policy and Reform Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0007123425000225
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract Evidence suggests that politicians in advanced democracies are positively selected on characteristics relevant to their suitability for political office. Whereas stereotypes abound, much less is known about the quality of politicians in developing countries. Drawing on unique experimental and survey data on village-level politicians in West Bengal, India, we find some evidence of positive selection into office: elected politicians are more educated, motivated, and have greater integrity than their constituents. However, they also have lower cognitive ability and are more likely to come from politically networked families. Comparing first-timers with re-elected politicians, we observe that experienced politicians display somewhat more political knowledge and motivation than their inexperienced peers, but are also more likely to be wealthy and male. Our findings demonstrate that conclusions about politician quality depend critically on measurement choices and that there may be competing dimensions of politician quality in the developing world.