This paper investigates the effects of increased power associated with higher office on the quality of agent performance, within the context of a model in which agents care about what others think of them. They care that is about the esteem they enjoy. The object is to conduct a simple...

However much people want esteem, it is an untradable commodity: there is no way that I can buy the good opinion of another or sell to others my good opinion of them. But though it is a non-tradable good, esteem is allocated in society according to systematic determinants; people's performance,...

However much people want esteem, it is an untradable commodity-- there is no way that you can buy the good opinion of another or sell to others your good opinion of them. And yet esteem is allocated in society according to systematic determinants: people's performance, publicity, and...