The challenge of public administration reform is well-known: politicians often have little interest in the efficient implementation of government policy. Using new data from 439 World Bank public sector reform loans in 109 countries, we demonstrate that such reforms are significantly less likely...

We study the consequences of populism for government performance and the quality of bureaucracy. When voters lose trust in representative democracy, populists strategically supply unconditional policy commitments that are easier to monitor for voters. When in power, populists implement their...

Once in office, politicians propose policies and programmes aimed at winning the support of their constituencies. While this form of political activism increases with the number of politicians in government, it can also clash with capacity constraints, leading to a congestion effect whereby...