Term Limits and Term Lengths

We construct a dynamic model of political and economic behavior to examine the impact of variations in term lengths and term limits. Term lengths and term limits alter politicians' time horizons and affect voters' use of elections to attain political accountability and select competent politicians. We show that although term limits aggravate aspects of the political accountability and competence selection problems, they also serve as electoral commitment devices. We replicate some stylized facts of voting behavior (retrospective voting, incumbency advantage, and political business cycles) and examine the relative performance of alternate electoral regimes